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Chapter Text

“Okay the account is set, now we have to wait and see!” Atreus set down the mobile phone and giggled at Angrboða.

“Are you sure your Father won’t get mad?” She was clearly nervous about the idea that Atreus turned into reality.

“Nooo, it will be fine, I will see if I can match with someone and then we will see how we go about it.”  

Atreus had wanted to do this for a long time, his father put him in the first place after his mother had passed away, not that he complained but it was time for his father to put himself first for once. So with a little bit of advice from his friends, he ended up making an account on this dating website Thúd had told him about. He did need emotional support from Angrboða to do it, so she had facetimed him while he was setting up the account. He wasn’t sure how to go about it and sometimes his father could be a little bit scary, especially about dating or even meeting someone he has never met before. Maybe this was not a good idea, a voice in his mind told him. No, no, that is just doubt speaking, he can do this.

They decided to put the account up for a week, he would do the swiping and matching and then as soon as he found a good fit he would tell his father. He had put a couple of pictures on the account, and a little bit of a story about his dad, his likes and dislikes and what (or thought) his father was looking for. The scary part really was telling his dad. 

“So now the matching begins right?” Angrboða looked at the phone with intense eyes as if it could go off anytime.

“Yeah, what do you think, should I just swipe and see who we will match to or should I only do the best candidates?” This might be harder than they thought, “I trust your judgement.”

“Let’s just start with getting the best candidates?” Angrboða looked at Atreus as he nodded and opened the app again. “Okay, so they need to be active right?”

“Yes, my father cannot sit still, they also need to like dogs since well three dogs can be a lot and they have to be fine with me.” 

“Hmm,” Angrboða agreed, “you know your father best.”

The app showed a woman, scarcely clothed, bright blonde hair taking a selfie in the mirror that mostly showed her behind, “well, I don’t think your father would like her.” she giggled.

“Yeah,” he declined her and the picture was swiped away.

They were busy trying to match his father with people they thought he might like and after half an hour the app didn’t allow them to try and match anymore. A few of the people on the app passed their assessment, however not many, now it was time to wait and see if they would match.

“Okay, let’s just put this away and wait,” Atreus rubbed his eyes, “you want to go on a walk with the dogs?” 

Later that night, while Atreus and his father were watching TV his phone went off in his pocket. He excused himself to go to the bathroom to see what the notification was. He had matched with someone, well not him, his father had matched with someone unbeknownst to him. He opened the app and was matched with an animation that showed a picture of an auburn haired woman staring into a sunset next to the picture of his father petting Fenrir while Spekki laid on her back paws up in the air next to them. He clicked on the profile and swiped through the pictures, the first was the one he saw in the animation, the second was a picture of her smiling next to someone that looked to be her brother as he used her head as an armrest. The other was her having a falcon on her arm as she petted the bird, the last was her in a big garden surrounded by beautiful coloured flowers. Atreus scrolled down to the bio page. 

‘Hi, this is the brother of Freya, she needs to live a little so I made her an account. She is an animal loving, outdoorsy gal that could definitely fight you if she wanted. She likes gardening, long walks and annoying the shit out of her brother. I judge if you are a good fit, she doesn't know I am doing this, and if you don’t hear from me assume she  has murdered me.’

Okay, well, that was a start right? He took a screenshot of the account and sent it to Angrboða with the question ‘what do you think?’ I did not take long for her to respond, only with a thumbs up. He sighed, helpful Boda .

 Should I send something?

Maybe?

I guess you will send it to her brother?

Shall I say who I am?

Yeah, I think that is better

You can set up a date together

To plan the date 😜

Him and me?!?!??!?!?

That was a joke you doofus

“Atreus are you okay?” he heard the concerned voice of his father shout from the hallway. He almost dropped his phone.

“Yeah, my stomach is a bit upset,” he lied, “I’ll be right there!” 

He hastily typed a message. ‘Hi brother of Freya this is the son of Kratos, I saw they matched. Well I have no idea how this works but what do you think?’

Before he could overthink it he hit send. 

“Please do not get mad.” Freyr begged Freya.

The smell of chicken they were grilling filled the small green kitchen of Freya’s house. Freyr leaned against the counter top facing his twin sister. Sunday was their sibling day, they would catch up, gossip, eat dinner and often Freyr would crash on Freya’s couch. This time would be no different.

However tonight Freyr was on edge, uncharacteristically on edge. He had, unbeknownst to her, signed up Freya to this dating app Lundá had advised. She deserved to have a good partner, okay. Especially after the piece of shit husband she had to endure for 20 years. Oh how he would love to beat that man to death. Alas it has now been 5 years, so it was time, at least according to Freyr.

He had been talking to this nice kid, who had kind of done the same he did, set up a profile for his father. They both agreed that they should have a blind date after going back and forth. Both obviously nervous. Now it was up to Freyr to convince his sister that this indeed was a good idea and that she totally should go meet this stranger her brother had picked out for her.

“What did you do this time?” Freya rolled her eyes as she put the chopped paprika in the pan.

“Well, I did you a massive favour, my dear sister.” 

“Seriously.” She turned to face him and pointed at him with the knife she was using.

“Why don’t we just lower that down for now and put it on the counter.” He slowly took the knife from her, she could definitely kill him, the less weapons she had the better.

“What did you do?” 

“So, first of all, I love you dearly and you deserve the best on this world and more,” maybe if he pampered it she would agree, “I arranged for you to have a blind date and I really– “

“You did what?” Freya all but shouted.

“Please don’t kill me,” Freyr held her by her wrists, “you deserve to have some fun, you deserve to have someone love you Freya, actually love you.” 

“Do you even know this person?” Freya rolled her eyes, of course he had done this, this is Freyr we are talking about.

“Well, he is a friend of a friend.” He lied, surely someone who you have met maybe two days ago is a friend right?

“Freyr, that does not make it better!”

“So, you will go right?” He looked her into her eyes.

“Freyr,” Freya sighed, tears welling up, “I don’t know, this isn’t easy for me, like dating is for you.”

“I know Freya, but, and I am speaking as your ever loving brother here,” he placed a hand on her shoulder, “you deserve fun Nád, you deserve love, can you try?”

“Freyr.” Freya whispered.

“Okay, don’t say no yet, let me show him to you,” he took his phone out of his pocket, “he has three dogs, very handsome if I do say so myself, has a son and is very active.” 

He scrolled through the pictures Atreus had sent him of his father. One where he was in the middle of throwing a ball, all three dogs patiently waiting. 

“Look, you’ll get free dogs!” 

“I don’t think it works that way, Yngvi.” A small smile formed on Freya’s lips.

“Here, why don’t you look through the pictures yourself.” 

She took his phone with a sigh, and swiped through the pictures. Hmm, Kratos was his name. She saw the first picture with the dogs, one where the stranger was fixing up his house, one of his and his friend in a pub holding up a pint, one with a child on his shoulders. God Freyr what have you done? It wasn’t that Freya didn’t want to date, it was just, she couldn’t. Not after the hell she went through with her ex-husband, who occasionally still bothered her when he went into conspiracy mode. She had left him way to late, managed to fuck up her relationship with her own son too, although it was better now than when she was still with her husband. Her son had hated her for the abuse she had let happen. Not only towards her but towards her own son too, she could just not get rid of the guilt, whatever her therapist would tell her. To now let in another man, to start opening up her heart again, that was hard. She was starting to get anxious, fidgeting with a piece of paprika.

“I don’t know if I can do this Yngvi, “ she handed the phone back to her brother, “this is all too much, I am sorry.” 

“Freya,” he took her hands with a sigh, “I love you and I know you are scared to open up, especially to a stranger, but I want you to know that I think this is a good idea. Even if nothing happens, maybe you will have a new friend or maybe you will have so much fun that it will turn into something more, and if not, then you can always tell me I was wrong. I know how much you love to do that.” 

Freya took a deep breath, yeah she did love proving her brother wrong. It had been five years, he was right.  This man had a son that seemed to love him, that meant he was a good guy right? It could never get as bad as it did with Odin. Maybe she should put herself first for once. Yeah what Freyr said, free dogs.

“Okay,” Freya saw the smile grow on her brother’s face and rolled her eyes. He was too happy about this, “but I want someone I trust near me, either you or Sigrún.” 

“We can make that compromise.” He immediately opened his phone to text Atreus.

“You are not going to text him immediately right?” 

“Well, his son, and yeah of course I won. Why wouldn’t I?” 

“Jesus, Freyr, does he know about this setup?” 

“I don’t know, his son said he would tell him tonight.” 

“You are on cooking duty now, I will be in the living room, expecting some good food with wine, good luck.” She really didn’t want to be there as her brother set up this date, with the son of the man she was going to meet.

She sat down on her couch, her Grey Norwegian forest cat immediately settling on her lap.

“What do you think of this Bygul, is this a good idea?” The answer came in a low purr.

She opened up her phone to text her best friend about her brother’s whole blind date idea. Sigrún had the same doubts as her, until she mentioned the blind date by name. He had been a very good friend of Mimir, Sigrún’s longtime boyfriend, buddies in crime as she had said. However Sigrún had never met the man but the stories told nothing but a man of values, one who put his son before him. Maybe this idea wasn’t as bad as she had thought.

Chapter Text

“I will not go on a date with a stranger, Atreus.”

Atreus had set down his father at the dinner table, even cooked him dinner. Of course Kratos had been suspicious from the beginning, what child would cook dinner without being asked multiple times. A comment at every moment possible, about if he had done something, if he was Queer, did he get bullied too much, is he feeling depressed. So when he had set the table, served his father, Atreus started explaining before his first bite of the pasta he made, before his father got a heart attack. After the word about the blind date Kratos had cut him off.

“Father, please, it has been years.” 

“No Atreus, this is the end of the conversation, I will not go on a blind date.”

“But Father, we have arranged everything already!” They hadn't but Kratos wouldn’t know.

“No, why, would you want me to go anyway?” His father stirred the pasta with too much power and aggression. 

“Because I want you to be happy,” Atreus said deflatedly, but it was true “and I don’t want you to always prioritise me all the time, I am fine.” 

“Atreus,” he sighed, “I am happy, happy with you, that is more than I could ever ask for.” 

“But-” 

“No Atreus, drop it.” 

“It would make me very happy if you went on the date, she is very nice!”

“Atreus.”

“Mimir’s girlfriend is her best friend and he said that she is really nice!” 

“Atreus.”

“Please Father, just this date and if you don’t like her then you won’t ever meet her again!” He shoved his chair back, almost making it fall.

“Atreus!”

“You always tell me I have to try before I say I don't want to or I don’t like it, so now you have to try before saying no!”

“Atreus!” His father slammed his fist on the dining table which made Atreus flinch. “I’m sorry.”

“No, it’s okay Father, I just wish, nevermind.” Atreus sat down with a sigh, nervously pushed around the little basil leaf he had added to the pasta.

Kratos sighed and looked out of the window, his mind was in obvious turmoil. Sure, he hadn’t dated anyone before the death of his wife, how do you recover from something like that? What if he opened up his heart and it would happen again, or what if it didn’t work out. He had Atreus and he was already a handful, he would be very disappointed. Besides, not everyone would like dating someone with kids. But Atreus had arranged this for him, how did he even find this person?

“It is hard for me to open up, I don’t want to get hurt. But mostly I don’t want you to get hurt. I know you did this with the best intentions, for that,” he took a deep breath, “I might want to try.”

“Really?” his eyes shoot up from his plate to his father.

“For you, but on my terms.”

“That’s okay, don’t worry, you won’t be disappointed.” He was entirely too happy about this.

“Atreus?”

“Yeah.”

“How did you find her?” 

“Uh, asked around?”

“Atreus.”

He saw Atreus shrink into himself, shoulders hung with shame, nervous again.

“I made an account.” He said, almost too soft for Kratos to hear.

“Where?”

“Thrud told me about this dating app she used.”

Kratos clenched his fist, this was not worth getting mad over.

“Is the account still active?” He said with a little too much force.

“No, no, no, it was only active for a day, after we made plans for the date I took it down.”

“Plans with her?” He questioned, Atreus was too comfortable with this.

“Well, her brother, he kind of did the same thing we did, but for his sister. I took it down after we planned it, I swear!”

“Does she know about this?”

“He told her yesterday, I wanted to wait until she said yes.”

“So it is happening then, for sure.” Maybe he acted too fast on this, he didn’t want to let Atreus down, but some sort of nervousness set in his stomach.

“Yeah, she and Sigrun are close so she might be there too, if you want Mimir I don’t think he would mind.”

“Hmm.” He grunted, he would think it over.

Atreus

My father said yes!

Good!

Let’s make a plan about the date

What do you think is a good date idea for them?

Hmm

You said your sister wanted someone to be there right?

Yeah

Maybe something in public that is easy going?

Let me Google cute date ideas

A picnic could be something?

Stargazing is romantic right?

Hiking is a big one I see here

Rock climbing, is that something she would do?

She boulders regularly yeah

Going to a cafe?

That’s a good one, it is lowkey

Doesn’t need preparation from our part

OH!

I have an idea

Cat cafe, they both like animals!

YES YES YES

You are amazing

She has been wanting to go there but never has

GOD I COULD KISS YOU RIGHT NOW

Uh please don’t

My father could go friday so if she is free

LEt me ask her I think she is normally free

Freyr

HEY SISTER OH DEAR SWEET FAVORITE SISTER OF MINE

what

Are you free friday?

Please say yes

depends

Date?

you mean the date YOU want me to be on?

Ye

You said yes so you have to it’s the sibling law

i am free

GOOD

You will be going to the cat cafe

sigrun will be there?

Ye

She is in on it now

i hate you

Love you too sis

“So your own son set you up?” Freya sipped her iced caramel coffee with a smile as she looked at Kratos over the table. 

Even though it took some convincing, she was actually enjoying herself. Sure the cats around her helped and calmed her nerves. But Kratos was a decent guy, and talked about his son with pride in his eyes. It was very endearing, to the point Freya wished Baldur had a father like that. It was now half an hour into their ‘date’ . It was awkward at first, being set up by your son and brother might do that but soon both relaxed and just let the conversation flow. Mimir and Sigrun sat a couple of tables down to not eavesdrop. 

“Yeah, I might have gone wrong somewhere in raising him.” He said with no ill intent.

Freya let out a small laugh and saw Kratos smile at it. He stirred around in his black coffee. Kratos' gentleness had calmed her down, for how intimidating he looked he was surprisingly a very gentle and caring man.

“We should get revenge on them sometime”

“Hmm.” A little black cat jumped onto his lap, looking over the table, nose moving, catching the smell of the salmon sandwich Freya had in front of her. 

“That is not for you little one.” He held the cat back by its chest, scratching it. The cat looked up at Kratos and squeezed its eyes starting to purr.

“He seems to like you.” She held out her hand to let the kitty sniff it, petting it under its chin.

“Hmm, I think I am more of a dog person, but I do like this one.” 

Freya hummed, seemingly in thought. 

“Are you okay?” Kratos looked at her.

“Yeah, I just never thought I would enjoy myself, I kind of despised my brother for doing this behind my back. But on the other hand, I know he ment well.”

“I am glad you enjoy yourself, I have to say, I didn’t think either that I would. But I do enjoy your company. It is refreshing in a way.” 

“Our next date should be getting back at them, then.” Freya put air quotes around, date.

Kratos let out a laugh. “Yeah we should.”

A vibration came from the table as Freya noticed an anonymous caller, stupid Microsoft support. She turned her phone face down, if it was important they would leave a message, right.

“So what do you suppose we should do?” 

“Hmm,” Kratos grumbled, “we should think about it.” 

Her phone vibrated again, she let out a sigh as she looked at the screen, anonymous again. They really don’t quit easily. She declined the call and put her phone on silent.

“Are you okay?” 

“Yeah, just some anonymous telemarketing dude I think.” 

“So what do you wanna do next, plot our revenge?” Kratos let out a chuckle.

Freya sighed as she closed the door behind her. The forced date had gone better than she expected. She leaned her back on the door and closed her eyes. Her feelings were all over the place. Something she rarely experienced. Bygul, talkative as ever, trotted over to her, tail up in the air. She crouched down as she petted her little boy.

“Hey kjæreste, did you guard the house well?” She laughed as Bygul meowed back.

She walked to the kitchen, setting her bag on the counter and took some treats out of the cupboard for the cat. As the kitty was eating eagerly she took her phone out of her bag. 

20 missed calls, all anonymous, no voicemail left. What the fuck.

She opened her texts, one from Freyr asking how it went, one from Kratos from when he gave her his number. One from Sigrun telling her they made it home. 

Baldur

Father texted me, he apparently is on short leave? Did you know?

No, I didn’t, he shouldn’t contact you either because of the restraining order.

Fuck, he asked me if I was in contact with you, I said no

Thank you, I got 20 anonymous calls, might be him didn’t leave any messages

Maybe contact the police? I don’t think he is allowed to do this, I blocked him

I will too, but I don’t think I can block anonymous calls

No, be careful mom

I will be love, how’s Nanna?

Good, we are getting ready for a night out

Have fun! Send my regards to her!

Fuck , this changes everything. No wonder he tried to blow up her phone. She just hoped she protected her privacy after all that had happened. Luckily she and Baldur were on good terms now, they both had to do a lot of work to reach where they are now. Odin’s ways went a long way. He was relentless in tearing everything she had apart. 

Odin texted Baldur

WHAT THE FUCK  HOW WHY HE IS LOCKED UP?

Temporary release apparently

Are you okay Nád?

No

I am coming

Of course her over protective brother would drop everything to protect his sister. She nervously bit her nails. This ruined the good mood she had when she came home. Was it a sign from the universe that she was not ready to try again? She let her tears fall.

Chapter Text

“Are you sure you want to study that, Son?” Freya heard as she came down from the stairs. She stood still at the bannister listening in on their heated conversation.

Odin, as usual by now, was on his daily quest to taunt Baldur. If it wasn’t him he was trying to get a raise out, these days, it would be her. Baldur, much to her delight but Odin’s dismay, had narrowed down what he wanted to do in life. University, move out and start a life for himself. Freya had been so proud of him when he told her, happy to see her boy that she loves so, so much, grow into an adult. But both feared the wrath of Odin. 

Over the years he had become more paranoid, controlling and abusive towards the both of them. Freya tried everything she could to protect Baldur as long as she could, but he was rebellious and disliked his father so much. Not only because his father made him feel like a failure, but also because he was physically abusive.  Baldur was smart, he figured out quickly that she protected him from the worst that his father could do. Took every blow for him, every sneer and every manipulation. But Baldur was also mad at her. He had told her numerous times that they should just leave Odin behind, to just pack their bags and go, leave all the negativity behind. To not let him ruin their lives, but to be honest she feared her husband, he had stripped her down, held her on a tight leash. Hid the abuse well, always made sure bruises wouldn’t be shown to the outside world and when they did. Oh she just fell off a horse, oh yeah she just walked into a door. Credit to her, Odin nor Baldur knew  that she had been secretly setting up a plan to leave her husband behind. She had been saving money, reaching out to friends for a place to stay, a new job, a new life. Baldur was going to move out and that was a perfect opportunity to take her leave as well. Just a little longer, to burn all the bridges she would leave behind.

“Yes Father ,” Baldur spit out at him, “I don’t care for your opinion, I don’t need it.” 

“Did your Mother talk it into you?” Odin stood a hair length away from his son, “Did she cloud your judgement?” 

“At least my Mother supports me.”  Baldur spit out.

“Oh of course she did, I should have known. She is always there to cloud your judgement, this is not what you want, this is what she wants. I should have known. You should study something real, not a hobby.” Odin all but yelled in his usual animated way. “I have given you everything you could ever wish for, and now you are going to betray me just like that?”

“That is low coming from you, Father.” 

“What did you say?” 

Oh no, Baldur really pushed him with that. When he was really angry at his Father he would try to get a reaction out of him, no matter what the cost. She walked to the doorway waiting to intervene.

“You can’t hide it any longer father, you know it’s low to kick down. To tear your own family apart, for what, fame, money, power? No wonder you have divorced so many times.” 

She saw Odin raise his hand, on instinct she moved herself inbetween her son and her husband. She was used to this by now, she would protect her son at all cost. It didn’t matter to her if she got hurt in the process. She felt the sting before she heard the noise. Her vision went white with pain.

Somewhere in the distance she heard Odin laugh and Baldur shout.

“You fucking asshole, when you can’t control someone you just hit them?” 

She felt a warm liquid running down her nose, luckily she didn’t have to work the weekend. She scolded herself for that to be the first thought after getting hit by her own husband/ She held the back of her hand to her nose and she saw crimson blood dripping down. Odin had left the room laughing, to get some booze for sure.

“Mother?” Oh, Baldur had been talking to her, she didn’t notice him calling for her. The pain distracted her. His hands held her face looking very concerned. He lightly touched her nose, the pain that had just subsided came back. She flinched. 

“I’m fine.” 

“Fucking bullshit,” if she wasn’t in pain she might have laughed, “why do you always need to protect me?” 

“Elskan minn,-” 

“No, you can’t just talk your way out of this!” he threw his hands up to which she flinched, her body reacting before her mind did, “you let him get away with so much. He is hurting you almost daily now, and all you do is to just take it!” 

“I know,” she sighed and pinched her nose to stop the bleeding, “I am sorry.” She always was.

“You say that everytime, you know it will go wrong at some point, right?” Baldur whispered, “I am scared that if I leave,-” He couldn’t finish his sentence, hugging her not caring that the blood would stain his shirt. “I am scared that I will come home with him beating you to death.” 

She gripped his shirt tightly, trying to hold it together for him. Somewhere in her mind she knew he was right. Odin had become more and more aggressive lately, taking the fact that his business empire had been failing out on her. Just a little longer until she had it all figured out. She broke down when she felt the warm wet tears of her son falling into her hair.

The police told her this shouldn’t have happened. At least not to Baldur, they couldn’t find out if it really was Odin who called her, since it was anonymous. He was always a step ahead, that fucking bastard. They said it was very likely, but couldn’t pinpoint it. Her guess was that it is a burner phone, since the phone number was different from the number that he had used to ask Baldur. However he did violate his terms by contacting Baldur, within 24 hours of his parole, so he was behind bars again. This did little to ease Freya’s mind, he was almost at the end of his term. They told her he had to ‘taste’ freedom again, to practise not being in prison. Was it worth it if it was at the cost of others? She surely knew his stunt wouldn’t extend his sentence much longer.

They also told her they were supposed to inform her and Baldur about his temporary release but ‘forgot’. For that they were sorry. Freya had huffed at that.

As she left the police station a text popped up on her phone.

Kratos

I thought about revenge, we should speak.

That is fast, it has barely been a day

I am eager to get them, are you free?

I can come, sure

When Kratos opened the door for her, three fluffy high energy dogs came running towards her. Immediately making her day better, maybe the brute in front of her had also some sort of a calming vibe over her, but that was a feeling for another time. Freya chuckled at the sheer force one of them came to her, almost slipping on the wooden floor. Bigger than the other three, and certainly more daring.

“Fenrir, gentle,” Kratos commanded the dog as he held the door open for her, “come in, he can be a lot sometimes.” 

The other two dogs patiently waited for her to give them attention as they walked into the living room. Both taking in the smells, eager to meet the new human. Kratos motioned to the couch for her to sit. Fenrir immediately laid his head on her lap, eyes looking expecting at her. She saw a smile on Kratos’ face.

“Generally he only is very fond of Atreus, but it seems he is fond of you as well.” 

“He seems like a sweet dog.” She petted the top of the grey head, Fenrir did a good job in calming her nerves. 

“He is,” Kratos petted one of the other dogs that came to him, “this is Speki and the other is Svanna. Would you like coffee?” 

Freya nodded yes as she was giving Fenrir the much wanted attention. Kratos walked to the kitchen when her phone vibrated again. It was a number she didn’t recognize. Not again. Kratos noticed the look on her face as he set the mugs down.

“Are you okay?” He asked her as he sat down next to her on the couch, “Is it the same person as yesterday?”

“It’s a long story.” She sighed and put the phone down next to her, on silent.

“I’ve got time.”

“I really want to hear what you have as revenge,” Freya changed the subject and put her phone on silent, “I really want to get back at my brother.”

“So I looked some revenge up on Google.” He picked up his phone and glasses from the table. He looks really cute with the glasses on . 

“Oh no,” Freya smiled, “what did you find?” 

“Well, most of them were cruel. But I do want this to be a lesson for Atreus.” 

“What do you propose the lesson to be?” 

“Not to force others into something without their consent.” 

“Hmm, that is a good one.”  

Freya took a look at the room. She didn’t know what to expect from Kratos. The room seemed to be a mixture of things, she saw a beautiful picture on the chimney of three people. A younger Atreus giving the camera a toothy smile, two missing which just made him even more adorable. A Kratos with a smaller beard and a soft smile, his arm wrapped around the woman next to him. Soft ginger hair fell down her shoulders as she looked down at Atreus, hands upon his shoulders and a twinkle in her ice blue eyes. In the background she saw white buildings with blue dome roofs and a beautiful soft pink and orange sunset. It must have been a vacation.

“That was at Santorini, two years before she passed away.” Kratos had followed her line of sight and felt a soft pang in his heart when he saw the picture.

“I am so sorry Kratos,” she laid her hand on his arm, “the picture is beautiful.” 

“Yeah, she was.” He laid his hand on hers and squeezed it.

“What is her name?” 

“Laufey, but she went by Faye,” Kratos sighed, “she suddenly fell ill and there was nothing we could do.” 

“That is awful.” 

“Yeah,” Kratos seemed to be in thought, “I think we should beat them in a match.” 

Freya almost got a whiplash from the sudden change of subject, but she understood. Some things are just too painful to share with the blind date that your son forced you on.

“What kind of match did you have in mind?” A cheeky smile grew on her face, this was something she could get behind.

“Well, that is what I have been looking at,” Kratos opened up his phone again, “so paintball is something that I saw, but I don’t really like the chance of Atreus getting hurt.” 

“Understandable, I have heard about laser games, but knowing my brother he is very good at that and well I want to win.”

“Yeah, we need everything to be in our favour.” 

“We could do Go Karts, but it requires skill.”

“Atreus can’t drive yet, he will complain it is unfair,” Kratos looked at his phone, “I did see a rage room nearby, which we will need to turn it into a competition.” 

“Oh, rage room sounds fun.” 

“I will write that down.” 

“What is something that you are good at?” Freya asked curiously.

“I am good at a lot of things.”

“No need to flatter yourself.” She laughed. 

Her phone buzzed, and her reflex was almost to throw it out of the window but she could stop herself in time. A big sigh left her lips.

“I could pick it up for you and tell them to stop?” Kratos offered her.

She picked the phone up to see who was calling her. Freyr, what in the world would he want? If she had to save him one more time from his not so thoughtful adventures, she loved him dearly but sometimes.

“It is Freyr.” she rolled her eyes.

“Do you want me to answer?” 

“I don’t think we should give him more ammunition that he needs,” she sighed, at least it wasn’t Odin. Every call she got she expected it to be him, even if he was back behind bars. “I would appreciate it though if you stay.” 

“Of course.”

“Brother,” she said as soon as she picked up, “I am in the middle of something so make it quick.” 

“Nád, are you okay?” 

“Yeah, why?” She asked, confused.

“The police called, they said they can’t find Odin.” 

It felt like all of the sudden she was flung from Yggdrasill . Her ears rang and the adrenaline in her body spiked. She couldn’t get oxygen in fast enough and it seemed like her whole body just froze in fear. The only thing she got out was a small, what do you mean, but she wasn’t even sure if she said it. They told her they had him behind bars? How was this possible? Her mind started running through all the worst case scenarios that she could think of. It felt like her body didn’t belong to her anymore and she was just a passenger. How?

She was vaguely aware of Kratos taking the phone from her, asking Freyr what had happened to elicit such a reaction from Freya. She saw Kratos nod and go back and forth with Freyr but she had no idea what they were saying. Her breathing became faster and harder to get under control. She suddenly felt warm and cold at the same time. Everything was blurry. She saw Kratos put the phone down and she heard her name but it was far away. Two big hands rested on her cheek, the cold of them anchoring her in her panic. She tried to focus on them, closing her eyes. She felt trapped. When she opened her eyes again she saw Kratos take a deep breath in. Oh yeah, breathing. She tried to mirror him, the first few breaths were hard, but slowly and surely her breathing calmed. She tried to focus her mind on anything else than the phone call. She felt Kratos' thumb slowly stroke her cheek and tried to focus on that. It took a while for her to calm down, and she was so incredibly tired. But Kratos’ voice became clear once again.

“Sorry,” Kratos almost didn’t hear her voice.

“You have nothing to be sorry for.” His voice was so soft, the low rumble took away the last bit of panic. 

“Thank you.” 

Kratos only answered with a small smile. She closed her eyes to savour the moment before taking a deep breath.

“Freyr told me that someone has been stalking you?” 

She nodded silently. How would she even start to explain that it was her abusive ex-husband, who is in jail because of what he did to her. Who was apparently lost and never reported back to jail. 

“I am scared, Kratos.”

Not many people knew what had happened, she didn’t know how much Freyr told him. She didn’t want to be alone, or have to go home. Did Odin know where she lived? She had moved to a different town and burned all her bridges, but he was relentless and if he wanted to get information he would. 

“You can stay here Freya,” Kratos pulled her into a hug, it felt like hugging a bear, “we’ll figure it out.” 

Chapter Text

Kratos pinched the bridge of his nose, trying to calm his rage. Freyr was on his way to his house after he had called him. Freya sat on the couch, staring ahead, almost like a zombie. He had gotten a blanket from upstairs and draped it around her, the only indication she had noticed was a soft thank you. Almost too soft for him to hear. Her tattooed hands pulled the duvet tighter. She was almost the total opposite from when he had met her. It felt strange, even though he knew her so shortly, he missed her jokes, her wit. She made him feel comfortable, at ease, not many people had been able to have that influence.

“Freya,” he kneeled in front of her, she jumped at his voice, he hated that, “is there something I can do for you?” 

She shook her head, but to his surprise, she took his hand in hers using it as a fidget. He truly did not mind. She followed the scars on his hand, running up and down his fingers. He was almost hypnotised by her tattooed fingers. The feeling calmed not only her but also him down.

“I want you to know, if there is something I can do,” he made sure she looked at him, “I want you to tell me, okay?” 

She nodded, her hair falling forward tickling him.

“I am so tired,” her voice was so soft, “I’m sorry.” 

“No need to be sorry, not for this,” he lightly squeezed her hand, “if you want you can lay on my bed, I don’t mind if the dogs accompany you.” 

Another slow nod, still fidgeting with his hand. Then with a deep breath, she stood up. He opened the door for her, urging the dogs to come. Normally they weren’t allowed to go upstairs, but he was willing to break that rule for her. He led her to his bedroom and closed the curtains for her as she crept underneath the blankets without the words. The dogs were excited to be allowed on the bed, all three of them laid down as close as they could next to Freya. He saw a small smile on her face as Fenrir acted as the smaller spoon, creeping up under her arm. Svanna pushed herself up to her back, sandwiching her as Speki laid her head on her thigh. It was almost comical at how fast the dogs loved her, the sight of the four of them made him feel warm, something he did not expect.

He kneeled in front of her, petting Fenrir who let out a content sigh.

“You only need to shout if you need something, okay?”

“Thank you Kratos,” she squeezed his hand, “I am so sorry.”

“There is nothing to be sorry for, get some rest okay.” he again answered with a nod.

He softly closed the door behind him. For her to react this way,so out of character, something must have happened with the stalker. What Freyr had told him over the phone, he surely had a hard time to act calm for Freya’s sake. He knew it was not the full story, that was clear. Kratos walked down, the weight of the situation weighed heavy on his shoulders. It for sure would be too early to open the bourbon now, although Mimir would disagree.

“I am sorry Kratos, that we have to meet this way,” Freyr sat on Kratos couch, coffee held in his hands, “however I am thankful that Freya is with you.”

“I am too, she is truly shaken.”

“To be honest, I am not surprised. Kratos, I want you to know I am telling you in confidence, you have seen Freya. She is not easily shaken, not anymore. However the person I am going to talk about is a danger to her, a deadly one. He will not stop until he reaches his goals, which is revenge. Freya is the main target. I press, he will absolutely not stop until he reaches his goal.” 

Kratos grunted, which Freyr took as an understanding.

“He is the ex-husband, father of her son. They had been together for almost 18 years. She had married young, forced to marry young. He was manipulative, and could get under your skin easily. We did not know, but he was also physical towards her, used violence and fear to control her. We think he was scared she would tell people about his not always so legal business. She could not go to the police, when she did, she found out he had friends there. So she stayed for her son as long as possible, she believed that was the only way she could see her son and the only way she would stay alive. That if she left, he would do something. She made a plan to leave, Baldur would go to college and she would never look back but still have her son in her life. She kept it secret for as long as possible, accounting for every possible scenario. However a year before Baldur would move and she would leave, her ex-husband's business was raided by the Criminal Investigation Department. He of course blamed her. He had been violent before, but not to this extent. I will spare you the gruesome details but she ended up in a coma. Luckily before Odin could kill her Baldur came home, to say he was angry is an understatement. It took her a month to wake up, she had to stay in the hospital for months because of the damage he had done. You can imagine the nightmares she has. The judge said this was one of the worst cases of domestic violence she had ever seen. That is why I am so fucking angry that he has gotten out.” 

“I am so sorry Freyr,” Kratos sighed, “anything I will say is not enough.” 

“If I am being honest Kratos,” Freyr looked at him, “I am surprised how fast Freya trusted you, given her history, don’t make me regret letting her.” 

“You won’t, I promise you.” 

“Good, now onto what the police told me. We are not sure if Odin knows where Freya lives. However he is very, very fucking good at finding out whatever he wants. I have thought about letting her stay with me, but I do not think that is safe. Sigrun is already trying to get the cats, I texted her when I called Freya. Kratos, to be honest, I am very scared of my sister's safety. You probably have seen how she reacted, and to be frank. I think that if Odin doesn’t find Freya at her place, he will go to mine next.”

“Hngh.” 

“He ruined her life,” Freyr sighed, tears welling up in his eyes, “I am so scared that if he would find her, he would finish it. But I have no idea how to keep her save, she does not like to be tied down somewhere.” 

“I understand, if you let me, I want to help. However that may look like.” 

“We will need to talk to her, right now it seems a stranger wants to help more than the police does.”

“Why don’t they?” 

“Honestly, when Freya told the police before Baldur left what Odin had been doing, it turned out he had friends there she did not know. Besides, I don't think the police know how to deal with this. Freya is far from the only one who this has been happening to, a sad thing to realise.” 

“Hngh.” Kratos grunted. 

“What is going on in that big brain of yours? I don’t know how to decipher your grunts.” 

“Well,” he sighed, “we need a plan, as you said she can not go back. Her safety is the highest priority, right now I am willing to let her stay here however I do need to discuss it with Atreus. Odin does not know I exist, maybe she needs a new phone. Make sure the chances of him finding her are as low as possible.”

“Yeah, good thinking. She is not going to be happy about this, but to be honest I don’t have another plan and we need to act fast.”

“You said Sigrun already picked up her cats right?” 

“Correct, she will need her clothes and other items. But I don’t know if we should go back to her house.”

“Let’s make a plan.” 

Freya woke up with a massive migraine. She felt a big furry dog laying against her back, and another one sleeping under her arm. She tried to force herself to relax before facing the harsh reality. Forcing the rise of panic away. Fenrir stirred in her arms, noticing the tension in her muscles, the quickening of her breath. He carefully licked her hand, slowly wagging his tail. His sister started to wake up from their slumber, Speki stretching her paw over Freya’s leg, rolling onto her back, paws up in the air. The silliness of the dog made Freya giggle. They had taken to her rather quickly, to her own surprise. She did not mind it one bit. They seem to calm her thoughts in the ongoing storm that is Odin’s wrath.

She squeezed her eyes shut, one last time shunning the whirlwind of thoughts away. Before sitting up in bed. Slowly she swung her legs to the side of the bed. Svanna jumped off the bed next to her, grey eyes looking at her expectantly. Her body seemed to run on autopilot, one step after the other. She felt guilty for reacting like this, especially at Kratos’ house. He had nothing to do with this. She was scared shitless after Freyr’s phone call, her body seemed to just shut down. Kratos really was a gentleman, seeming to know what she needed before she did. She could not put this on him too, potentially bringing his life in danger.

Freya reached the end of the stairs when she heard her brother’s voice.

“Do you think it is better if she stays here?” 

No, she couldn’t. That would mean Odin still had a hold over her, that Kratos would be forced to take her in. Meaning Odin won, that she still feared for her life.

“I think so yeah, I don’t mind it. If he were to go to her house, and she was alone. I don’t want to imagine what would happen. You said Odin would do everything in his power to find her, her house would be the first logical step.”

What Kratos said was true, Odin would stop at nothing. She tried to force her tears away before opening the door into the living room. Both men turned their heads, Kratos gave Freya a small smile, Freyr's face was full with concern for his sister.

“Hey Nád. We were discussing the situation.” Freya only nodded.

“Here, come sit down, I will make you some tea.” Kratos stood up and gave her his seat. Squeezing her shoulder before walking to the kitchen.

Freyr turned to her, analysing Freya. He hadn’t seen her so small in a long time.

“Sigrun picked up Bygul and Trjegul and took them to her and Mimir’s place.” Freyr took her hand in his.

“I will thank her,” she spoke softly, “I am so scared, Freyr.” 

“I know, Systir. We will do everything in our power to protect you. Kratos and I have been thinking about a plan. But we both want you to lay low, we know how the police are.”

She squeezed her brother's hand in return.

Chapter Text

Atreus ditched his backpack on the ground, he would figure out his lunchbox later. School was fun, he and Angrboda worked on their Art Project. The drawings had come together beautifully, even earning a compliment from their classmates. He knew drawing animals was a good choice. Atreus realised the dogs didn’t come to him, even Fenrir who would be all over him. He always took them on their long walk after school, to let their energy out and to quiet his mind. He unlaced his shoes, taking them off putting them nicely next to each other on the mat near the door, not wanting to be scolded by his dad for walking around in muddy shoes. He grabbed a glass of water, walking towards the living room. Eager to see why the dogs were not immediately at his feet.

He had never seen his father so tense, maybe shortly after the death of his mother. He had been young and the memory felt faded to him. It was one of the very few times he saw his father cry, his father never knew he saw it. Only looking through the crack of the door on a night when he couldn’t sleep.

He saw the reason why the dogs didn’t greet him, Fenrir was laying on the lap of Freya, barely reacting when he came into the room, only wagging his tail. Speki however immediately greeted him. Pushing her snout on his leg demanding pets. Svanna at Freya’s side rolled up pressing into her.

“Hey son,” his father greeted him, “come sit, we need to talk.” 

Oh shit, he went through all the things he had done the last few years. Was he angry at the fact he arranged a date for him? Freya was here and she didn’t look well, barely acknowledging Atreus. Only a small smile when he came to sat next to her. She was slowly stroking Fenrir’s head, who looked at Atreus letting out a big sigh.

“Freya needs to stay with us for a bit, if that is okay with you.”

“Yeah, sure.” Atreus nodded, looking at Freya.

“I am going to get some of her stuff so you guys can talk okay?” Freyr stood up and Kratos nodded.

“Thank you, Yngvi.” 

If Atreus hadn’t sat beside her he wouldn’t have heard her. He looked at Freya, still stroking Fenrir’s. He let his hand glide over Svanna’s back, hoping it would calm him down too.

“Atreus, it is important that you are comfortable with this. I don’t want you to feel like you have to agree.” Kratos' low voice took him out of his thoughts.

“No, it’s fine. I just want to know why.” 

A painful silence settled between the three. Kratos looked at Freya, hoping it would come to him how to explain to your son that someone wants Freya dead.

“I am being stalked by someone who escaped from prison,” Freya explained softly, “he is very dangerous and has hurt me before.” 

“What?” Atreus was stunned, why would someone want Freya dead? She has been so nice to him, was she secretly an assassin? “Why would someone want to hurt you? Do you want me to kill him? I am very good with a bow!” The words just fell out of his mouth before he could think about it.

“Atreus-” Kratos cut in.

“Sorry Freya, that was rude,” Atreus said, “it just came out.” 

“It’s okay Atreus,” Freya smiled at him, “it is normal to be curious and no, I don’t think it is smart to shoot someone, even though he wants to kill me. But the thought is very nice.”

“I really don’t mind if you stay here. I will have someone to beat at UNO now.” His toothy smile was very infectious.

Atreus sat down with a sigh, the last hour of school, he could make it. Just hold on a little longer. He could taste the week off, the long awaited vacation. Luckily he liked history class, so it wasn’t too bad. His thoughts had been at home, at Freya. Adjusting to a new person living in your house has been a little bit of a challenge. He was glad that now, when he would get home, someone would be there. Instead of coming home to an empty home because his dad was at work. Maybe he was a little bit selfish but it was also for Freya’s benefit!

The first few hours together were a bit strange, it was a little awkward, Atreus did not know what to do. Freya had apologised numerous times for the situation. With both Kratos and Atreus telling her it is okay. Atreus had decided to distract her until dinner by playing UNO with her, he did let her win a couple of times, although Freya might have noticed it but she never said anything. This did seem to loosen up Freya a little bit. When it came time for the dogs to go on their night walk they would not leave Freya’s side, Atreus asked her to come, walks where more fun together anyways. She was frightened to go out, although Freyr had brought her a new phone with a new number and they tried to make her untraceable as possible, Atreus didn’t blame her. This person must have hurt her badly for her to be so scared.

 Kratos offered to go with them, which surprised Atreus, he rarely walked the dogs! Only when Atreus came up with the idea of wearing one of Kratos’ hoodies, with the hood up she agreed to go with them. Atreus had to admit, it looked kinda cute, a super oversized hoodie that almost acted like a dress. Kratos had stuck closely by her side, Atreus talking their ear off, he had noticed Freya had relaxed quite a bit when they came home. He felt really bad for her, thinking of the many things that could make her feel a little bit more at home. This whole situation was just a mess.

“Hej!” Angrboda seemed to appear out of thin air behind him. “What are you thinking about?” 

“Wah!” Atreus jumped in his chair, Angrboda laughing at his antics, “you scared the shit out of me!”

“Well, you have been daydreaming all day,” she sat down next to him with a lopsided smile, “what’s up with you?”

“Oh well, the usual you know!” Atreus stuttered.

“Sure,” she took her notebook out of her bag, “come on, I can see the gears in your mind running.” 

“Okay,” Atreus sighed, he knew he could not keep a secret from Angrboda, “someone is staying with us.” 

“Oh that sounds fun, like a sleepover!” 

“Yeah, well the reason isn’t so fun unfortunately.” Atreus sagged down into his chair.

“Oh yeah that sucks,” she noticed the sudden shift in his mood, “who is it, a family member?” 

“No, it’s uh Freya, but you can’t tell anyone okay!” 

“Freya! From the blind date you put your dad through?” Angrboda tried hard to keep her voice down.

“Yeah, she is kind of in danger, and Father offered her a place to stay. She just seems very anxious and I want to help her settle but I don’t know what to do.”

“Hmm, yeah that sucks,” Angrboda thought for a second, “what does she like to do? Maybe something she likes will help her relax.” 

“The dogs seem to really like her, and I let her beat me at UNO a couple of times.” Atreus thought out loud, “but other than that I don’t really know much about her.”

“Okay, well, maybe that is a good place to start,” Angrboda smiled wide, “besides, you would talk her ears off, that is a good distraction for sure!” 

“Hey! My stories are the best!” 

“You play guitar!” Atreus almost couldn’t contain his excitement.

Freya was in the middle of unzipping a guitar bag when Atreus came back from school. Freyr had brought over some of her stuff while he was at school. A couple of bags and some things for her to do. He threw his bag somewhere off to the side, he saw Freya look at him with the same look his father would give him. She said nothing about it.

“Yeah, it has been some time though,” Freya took the guitar out of the bag that Freyr brought it in, “I used to play in a band.”

Freyr had just grabbed the stuff he thought would be important for the coming weeks. She didn’t blame him that he brought her guitar too. She used to play it so much as a kid. Her parents had bought a Spanish guitar for her for her 11th birthday, she still had it, cared for it like it was her baby. With her first money she bought a Western guitar, the guitar she did her first performance with, the one Freyr had brought her now. When she married Odin she stopped. He hated it, everytime she would get her guitar out, even if she was in a room he wasn’t in he would shout at her. She quickly brought her most beloved ones to Freyr, scared that he would break them, that was the first sign it wasn’t a happy marriage. He did end up destroying two guitars, the worst one was when Baldur had asked her to teach him a song he liked, which she of course happily did. Odin had been so mad that they were, according to him, “too loud for him to think” that he had grabbed her guitar and smashed it in his rage. She has never played since. Even now, she hasn't played seriously. Only a few notes here and there to keep the skill, but never the songs she used to play. Scared that he would magically appear, shout at her for playing or worse. She had scolded herself for still being scared. It had gotten better with therapy, but unlearning years of abuse was not an easy task.

“That is so cool!” His eyes sparkled when she took the guitar out of the bag.

A beautiful sunburst Gibson Hummingbird revealed itself, it truly was her baby, on the pickguard beautiful white ferns were drawn. A white hummingbird with yellow wings was drinking from a flower on the bottom, on the top a yellow moth was flying away. Atreus’ mouth fell open from shock, he had never seen a guitar like this. He was almost hesitant to ask.

“Can you play by ear?” Atreus asked while she was looking the guitar over, “I have always wanted to learn to play an instrument, but I never had the patience for it.” 

“Yeah I can, I just need to hear it a couple times,” she hadn’t realised how much she missed playing, “I can teach some if you’d like.” 

“Seriously!” Atreus’ excitement was very infectious, almost making Freya forget the reason why she was here, “I am almost too scared to touch it, it is so beautiful!”

“It is, isn’t it,” she slowly picked some strings to tune it, “I had to save a long time to be able to buy this guitar, but when I saw it the first time I wanted it so bad.” 

“No wonder! It is so pretty, can you play something for me?” 

“Sure, I’ll play an easy song, it has been a while since I played, okay?” Freya sat down on the couch, “this is one of the first songs I learned, I can teach you it too if you’d like.”

She slowly tuned the guitar, trying to keep her heart rate down. He was not here, this was just Atreus asking her to play a song. She could do this. She let her muscle memory take over. The song wasn’t hard at all, she had played it many times as a warm up. With one last sigh, trying to relax her body, she began to play. The soft sound of the notes coming from the body of the guitar felt like coming home to her. The world around her grew quiet, just her and the guitar. The snares almost seemed to play themselves, her left hand just simply pressing the notes at the right time. In Freya’s opinion the song was way too short, she felt like she barely started the song already ended. Her shoulders relaxed after the last note, only then she felt the smile on her face.

“Wow, that is so good Freya!” Atreus was in awe. 

“Thank you, it truly has been too long.” 

“Can you teach me too?” Atreus sat down next to her, “I want to play for Angrboda, but I don’t know how.” 

“Yeah, sure,” she gave the guitar to Atreus, “be careful please, here try this pattern of rhythm on the strings.” 

What the both of them didn’t notice was Kratos standing just behind the doorway, out of their sight but he could clearly see the scene that played before him. He had gotten off of work early, wanting to go home as quickly as possible. He had felt anxious about leaving Freya at home alone, he knew she was more than capable of taking care of herself.

The scene of Freya teaching Atreus guitar pulled on his heartstrings. He saw how hard Atreus tried to make her feel at home, despite the circumstances, eager to help her. He was proud of his son, taking after his mother. He had gotten his caring side from her. Kratos waited just a little longer before walking in, smiling to himself for Atreus' eagerness.

Kratos’ slowly got up from the chair in the living room. Everyone had already gone to bed, he just stayed up a little longer as always on Fridays, watching the boxing match that was on today. When he had walked in on Freya teaching Atreus guitar his son immediately wanted to show him what he had learned in such a short time. His enthusiasm taking over him, he had seen it before in Faye. Even though Atreus made a small mistake, Kratos was proud of how much he learned in such a short time. He could also not help but notice Freya’s smile, it was endearing. 

He walked up the stairs, much to Atreus’ dismay he had decided the dogs would stay with Freya, even in the guest bedroom. Normally the dogs were not allowed to stay upstairs or even on the bed. But seeing how much they helped Freya calm down he let that rule slide for her. The dogs had stayed at her side, not leaving her out of their sight. There was always at least one dog with her, they must have felt her anxiousness. It had really helped that Atreus saw the guitar and wanted to learn, she seemed more at ease than yesterday. Kratos could all but hope the coming days will be easier for her. 

His ears picked up a sound, it was strangely familiar to him. Soft sniffles came from behind the door of the guest bedroom. His heart broke for her, to be so terrified of someone not being able to safely stay in your own home, always having to look behind your back. He could not imagine what she was going through. Standing next to the door he took his time, deciding the best course of action. Softly he knocked on the door, hoping he didn’t scare her.

“Freya?” He whispered.

It took a couple of seconds before he heard her answer, he almost thought she was going to ignore him.

“Yeah?” her voice cracked.

He slowly opened the door, the low light of the bedside lamp illuminated the room. Both Svanna was dozing on the end of the bed, rolled up in her preferred curl. Speki laid close to her back, wagging her tail as she saw Kratos. Fenrir laid in front of her along her chest, looking at Kratos as he stepped inside the room. Freya had pulled the duvet over her, tucked herself in only her head above. Her face had been red from crying, she quickly wiped her tears. 

“Hey,” Kratos crouched down, he wasn’t sure what to do with himself, he wanted to comfort her but didn’t know how, “are you okay?” 

Freya huffed. 

“This sucks,” she blurted out, “I just want the world to quiet down.” 

“Can I get you a glass of water?” He was grasping at straws,he was not well versed in helping someone in this situation, “or something else?” 

“I don’t know,” Freya curled herself into a foetus position, “I’m sorry.” 

“There is nothing to be sorry for Freya.” He moved his hand towards her face slowly, tucking a loose strand of her behind her ear. Freya let out a sigh she didn’t know she was holding in, closing her eyes. He could see the gears turn in her head. He knew the feeling, the late night spiral of doom. “Is there anything I can do for you?” 

She just shrugged. 

“Do you think it will help if I stay with you for a bit?” 

“I am already asking so much of you, Kratos.” She whispered.

“I am offering Freya. If it means that you will feel better, I’ll do it gladly.” 

A silence fell over them, she clearly was thinking about it. He saw a tear fall down the corner of her eye. He had to restrain himself from wiping it away. He took her hand in his, slowly gliding his thumb over her knuckle. Patiently waiting for her answer, letting her take the lead.

“Okay, just until I fall asleep.”

Chapter Text

Sigrún put the key into the hole, turning it to open the front door to Freya’s house. She had told her best friend she would take care of the many plants of hers. With a sigh she stepped through the threshold, welcomed by the warmth of Freya’s home. She always enjoyed spending time here. Freya had made her house cosy, warm browns filled with the green of her plants. Freya had always been very conscious of the impact on the earth that a human had. She filled her house with woods, jars, herbs and small projects she would be working on. Candles scattered but efficiently, windows looking out on a lush meadow filled with native flowers, insects happily devouring the pollen. 

Her eye fell on a letter that had been pushed through the letterbox. The paper looked rough, pulled from a notebook. Harsh pen strikes filled the paper, some of the words crossed out. She picked it up carefully.

Hello Frigg,

I know where you live.

I know where you work.

I know who your friends are.

I will haunt you to the end of the day for what you have done to me.

You cannot hide, you cannot run.

I will find you, and I will make sure I will finish it this time.

Odin

Sigrún read over the letter, looking it over to see if he left more traces. She took out her phone from her pocket, taking a picture before calling her partner.

“Hey, I just arrived at Freya’s,” she sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose, “he left a note through her letterbox, threatening to kill her.” 

“That is such a stupid thing to do, leaving traces like that,”  she could hear Mimir typing on a laptop, “he must be desperate.”

“Yeah I thought so too,” she walked back and forth, "what do you think? You were once his friend, do you think he'll follow up on it soon?"

"He would not show his next move so he must be desperate, next to wanting revenge, he is also haunted by the police. One misstep and it will be over for him."

"Yeah, you are right as always, I think we need to see what to do next. It is important that she is safe."

"I'll wait for you at home, my love."

Atreus had enough of this day, of this school. The bike homewards was a painful one. The pounding on the side of his face, the swelling of his eye. It all fuelled his anger. Kicking his bike faster and faster. The wind made his eyes teary, quickly trying to wipe them away before they fell. This was bullshit. He hadn't done anything wrong, still the principal did not agree with that. Asshole that he was. The teachers taught them to help people in need, but when he did he got scolded for it.

Skjoldr was just talking to him about his last football game that he had won. He proudly told him that he stopped three balls from scoring a point. Out of the corner of his eye, Atreus already saw the school bully approach with a purpose. Grabbing Skjoldr bij his shirt, throwing him on the ground. Before he could spit, Atreus interrupted him with a push. Trying to get his attention away from his friend. No one in school liked Ivarr except for the few "friends" he kept. Atreus thought they were all too scared to go against him. That was when he felt the knuckles of the older boy connect to his temple, soaring pain came from his head. It all fuelled him more when he hit Ivarr on his nose like his father had taught him. Although he knew it could potentially break his nose, he did not care. No one touches his friends.

Through his tears saw the wild red manes of Thrud next to him telling Ivarr what a piece of shit he was,. Of course she did, she always was in for a fight. Before Ivarr could even touch him again, Thrúd was on him. Since she was basically a MMA champion Ivarr had no change. To his credit he knew when he could not win a fight, so he ran. The principal had appeared out of nowhere, pulling him into his office. While all his friends stood up for him, he did not getaway with hitting someone. The principle promised Ivarr would be punished as well, Atreus knew the school did fear his parents more than Kratos. So he had to write an essay on why punching someone is a no go.

He shoved his bike into the shed, he did not care that his father would reprimand him for that. With full force he put his key into the backdoor unlocking it with a sigh. Maybe a good shower would help calm his anger down. He took his shoes off, neatly placing it next to his trainers.

He totally forgot the fact Freya was staying in his house. Her curious eyes met his, having set up her laptop and notebook on the dining table to work, she had a perfect view of him when he walked into the room. The dogs were scattered near her, Fenrir in deep slumber, Svanna and Speki curled up together at her feet. He recognised the look she gave him any day, his father had done it many times before. Concern. Motherly concern. A distant memory of his mother fretting over Atreus when he fell of his bike appeared into his mind. The soft red hair, the light scent of pine and a warm hand that was placed on his shoulder. His mother voice scolding him for going to fast, not being able to stop. But also pride for riding for the first time without the training wheels. The scraping of the chair over the wooden floor took him out of his stupor.

"What happened?" Before he knew Freya was in front of him.

"Oh just hit my head," Atreus said dismissively, "clumsiness you know, I'll just take a shower."

The intense stare of the brown eyes of Freya made him shrink into himself.

"We both know that is not true Atreus," the stern voice made him nod silently, "sit. Let me clean it before it gets worse."

He nodded, fighting to stop the tears he could feel coming up. He was just so tired of this day. He pulled out the chair as Freya walked to the kitchen wetting the point of a clean towel. He sat down with a sigh, he knew out of experience he could do nothing to stop her.

Wild brown hair filled with braids and trinkets came into his vision as she sat down next to him. The hand of his knee made him look at her. The dam he had put up just collapsed as his tears fell. Hiccups and uncontrolled breathing made the feeling in his chest worse. It was all so unfair.

"What happened Atreus?" The question asked again in a softer voice, her hand squeezing his knee to keep him present.

"Ivarr pushed Skjoldr over for no reason," hiccups made it harder to talk, to get his words out right, "he just wouldn't stop taunting him and then I pushed him." He tried to rub his eyes dry, stupid tears. "He just hit me," was it smart to leave out that he had hit him back? Would Freya be mad?

"Atreus," she put the towel on the table and took his face into her hands, like his father had done so many times when he would get mad, "it is admirable that you stand up for your friends, that is a good attribute to have, but fighting won't always solve it."

"The principal doesn't care."

"Principals are assholes," she smiled making Atreus snort out a snotty laugh, "but there is no point in to getting hurt."

Atreus nodded. She took the towel and cleaned up around the wound. Slowly dabbing away the dried blood.

"Did you at least get a good shot?" The tone of Freya's voice made him curious.

"You should have seen me!" Tears temporarily forgotten, he cheered up, "I did the thing Father learned me, hitting him on the nose with the palm of my hand. He almost flew 10 meters backwards!" Freya laughed at how animated Atreus told the story. "And then Thrúd came, she is like really fucking good at fighting, she does MMA! Ivarr got so scared that he ran off!"

"Thrúd Thorsdottir?" Freya asked, she had heared that name somewhere.

"Yeah, do you know her, she is fucking badass."

The look Freya gave him was a watch your language.

"Sorry."

"I don't think your father appreciates swearing."

Speaking of the devil, the front door opened. Heavy footsteps walked towards the room. Freya saw Atreus shrink into himself again. She just got him out of his shell. A sigh left her lips.

"Atreus," the low tone of Kratos' voice boomed through the room, "what happened."

Atreus looked at Freya pleading for help, she looked at him, encouraging him to speak up.

"Ivarr punched me," the tilt of Freya's head pushed him over the edge, "he pushed Skjodr to the ground and I pushed him away."

The two by the table could hear the angry sigh loud and clear.

Chapter Text

"Violence is not solved with violence Atreus," Kratos' voice boomed through the living room, the frustration could be clearly heard, as his fists clenched. His son should know better, he hadn't raised him to use his fighting skills unnecessarily. "I only taught you to fight in case of emergency, you could have used your words or walked away."

"But he pushed Skjoldr down for no reason Father!" Atreus tensed when his father stood in front of him, looking him right in the eye. If his father was going to put up a fight, be stubborn, well so could he. "He would have hit me regardless, he is a bully, he hits people all the time!"

"You should have gone to an adult." Kratos sneered.

"An adult won't stop him from assaulting people, he has done this many times before, it doesn't work!"

"I taught you to fight to defend yourself, not to provoke."

"You never listen!" Atreus shouted, throwing his arms up in the air to let out his frustration. He didn't do anything wrong, he was protecting his friend from a bully!

Freya had to control herself not to jump in her chair, she felt like she was intruding into a family fight. It reminded her so much of the many fights between Odin and Baldur. When Baldur would come home from school, just had gotten a grade back. Freya had been so proud of her son, he never failed a class, loved school even. She remembered when he came back with a 5 for biology, which was the second highest grade he could get. She had helped him too for that test, as a veterinarian she knew more about animals than the teachers. Baldur had some trouble with the anatomy but he worked through it, studied every night, and asked his mother to help him. Both at the kitchen table looking through anatomy drawings as she gave him pointers. She eagerly exchanged her knowledge for hugs and ‘cool stories of the clinic’ as Baldur had put it. It had been a bonding moment for them and when he asked if he could watch her at her clinic, she was ecstatic. 

Odin had been so mad that he had a 5 and not a 6. She saw the passion in Baldur's eyes dim, Odin soon turned to her and she ended up the one who got yelled at. Questioned how she even passed Uni, how in Hell she became a vet. She had rolled her eyes, it was more on instinct and she didn't do it on purpose but she was so done with Odin's bullshit. 

As soon as Odin hit with the back of his hand on her temple, she sent Baldur upstairs. Her sweet boy rebelled, called his father out for what he truly was, trying to protect his mother. If she wasn't so scared she would have been proud of Baldur, standing up to the bully. Luckily Baldur was more agile than the old man and she would gladly take the hit if it meant her son would be spared.

"Maybe we should all just calm down," her soft voice broke the tension, she had to take a deep breath before she could continue, "talk about it when we are all a bit more level headed."

All Kratos did was grunt and stopped out of the room, slamming the door shut. Freya could feel the panic in her chest rise. Squeezing her eyes, she tried desperately to get her breathing under control. Atreus took notice of Freya's frightened brown eyes going back and forth in the room.

The thunder at night was coming down hard, the after summer rain was hailing down on the windows. Atreus could barely sleep with thunder to begin with, the rain was making it worse. It also did not help that his thoughts came back to the fight every time he tried to close his eyes. The fight with Ivarr was nothing in comparison with how he felt how the fight went with his Father. They did not fight often, but that made it hurt even more. His mother would break up their fights, scolding Kratos for not acting like the adult that he was. Using her soft voice with Atreus, knowing he felt bad for even fighting, she could feel his emotions before he could even understand them .His father wasn't home often in his early years, it added to the rift that was between them. After Faye had passed Atreus felt like he couldn't talk to his father about how he truly felt, he had to be strong like his father, shut those feelings out. Truly he was more like his mother, wearing his heart on his sleeve, his father was the opposite.

A soft sigh left his lips, overthinking was a bad habit of his, especially late at night when he was in bed all alone. He slowly threw the duvet off of him, his feet touching the cold floor. Fall had just come in and while the days were nice, the nights were colder than he liked. He slowly made his way to the bathroom to the otherside of the hallway. Just to get some water and clear his mind a little bit. The cold water against his lips felt like heaven, not waking him quite up but giving him the refreshment he needed. The noise he heard however did wake him up, he couldn't quite place it at first before he realized what it was. Slowly he made his way over to the door that he knew Freya resided behind, hearing the soft sniffles get louder as he reached the door. He contemplated knocking on the door, leaning his head on it before he made a decision. If the roles were reversed he knew he would like for someone to check in on him and so he softly knocked on the door.

"Freya?" He whispered, hoping it would not scare her.

The sniffles stopped momentarily, before a soft yeah came from the otherside of the door. He pushed the door handle down, the low light of the reading light illuminated the room. He saw that she had tried to clean her eyes up, not wanting to show the tears that he was sure had been falling earlier.

"Hey," he awkwardly stood in the door opening, "I uh, I couldn't sleep and uh," he didn't want to lie to her but he also did not want to make her feel uncomfortable, "can I stay with you for a bit?"

Freya smiled softly as she padded on the empty space beside her. He crept into the warmth besides her, pulling the duvet up as he faced her. Scooting into her as he laid his head on her shoulder. Her tattooed fingers playing with the hair that definitely needed a haircut. It reminded him of his mother, when he was younger. They often would lay in the fields when the dogs ran around, his head on her lap as her fingers softly waved through his hair. Faye would tell him stories about the Seasons of Stags, his favourite, her soft voice calming his mind while the warm summer wind carried the smell of the flowers around them. Sometimes even stories about his Father from before he was born. It felt like a present of life on the rare occasion when his Father would join, fill in the stories about himself.  In moments like this he missed her so much.

"Why couldn't you sleep?" Freya smelled like the lavender soap that he saw was recently put up in the shower, like a relaxing day in the meadow different from his mother but still somehow the same. He closed his eyes with a big sigh, the scratches pulled him close to sleep.

"My brain is noisy, and father doesn't give good hugs," he closed his eyes, "besides he snores, loudly."

"I can imagine that his hugs are a bit hard with all his muscles, yeah," Freya joked, looking down at him, then with a softer voice, "why is your brain noisy?"

"I don't know," he sighed, "it feels like a highway, and all of the cars are going faster than the speed limit."

"Yeah, that does not help when you are supposed to sleep does it?"

"Hng," he hummed, "why are you awake?"

Atreus reminded her of Baldur in some ways. The jokes, the bluntness, the softness. She often wished she could just hold her son and tell him how sorry she was about his childhood. No child deserved to be raised by fighting parents. Come home to a shouting father who only tells you what a disappointment you are. Baldur had often told her it wasn't only her fault, but she felt more responsible for it. She was his mother, she should have taken him out of that situation. Even if it had meant her death, in the end it did almost come to it. Being with Atreus and Kratos had given her more time to think about that, maybe she hadn't fully worked through what had happened. Maybe that was why she was still so scared of Odin, even when he was still locked up in prison. The fact that he was out there somewhere, no doubt looking for her made the nightmares even worse.

"I guess, the same thing as yours."

"Hey, that's not fair!" He sat up and chuckled, "I will kill him you know."

"Ivarr?" Freya questioned, raising an eyebrow to him, "I don't think your father will be too glad about that."

"No, Odin," he said matter of factly, "what did he really do?" He laid back onto her shoulder, seeking the warmth of her body.

"That is not really for young boys to hear." She got back to scratching his head.

Yeah, Atreus truly reminded her of Baldur. He had said the exact same thing many times before.

"Was it bad?"

"Atreus." She warned him. 

"I'll kill him regardless."

"You are too eager with your killings."

"Hm," he hummed again, "some people deserve it."

"I won't deny that."

Kratos sighed as he made breakfast. He had been chewing himself up about the fact he got angry, he felt bad. Atreus had nothing to do with it, his work had been stressful, he had just talked with Mimir about what Sigrun had found and when he heard his son ended up using the fighting techniques he taught him. Something just snapped. The kettle sang its usual high pitched noise, indicating that the water had cooked for Freya her tea, as he pulled it off the stove. Atreus should be down by now, his usual Archery practise were on Saturday mornings and today was his first competition of the season. Why hadn't he come down yet in his usual cheery way, was he still angry? He put his cup underneath the coffee pot and walked upstairs. Walking down the far side of the hallway he noticed Atreus' room door open, looking in he saw the unmade bed, unusual for Atreus to leave his bed like that. He looked back to see if the bathroom door was closed, maybe he took a shower, but it was as wide open as he had left it.

He walked over to the room Freya had taken, knocking on the door calling out for her. When no answer came he decided to go for it and opened the door slowly, not sure what he would find. He was met with the soft glow of the morning sun illuminating the room, Atreus faced the door, sleeping on his side the duvet pulled up onto his chin, eyes closed in a comfortable slumber with Freya behind him. Both unaware of the Greek standing in the doorway. Kratos took in the scene in front of him. He felt a little hurt that Atreus did not go to him, but regardless he felt at ease that even though he could not find comfort in him, at least he found it in Freya. Atreus stirred first, confusingly waking up until he saw his father. Kratos indicated to be silent with his finger to his lips.

"Stay a little longer, I'll make you breakfast."

Atreus just nodded and snuggled back in against Freya without a word.

Kratos closed the door silently behind him, not often did he make breakfast for Atreus. But for once he could give it to him, the guilt lingering and Kratos did not know how to deal with it. He was glad Atreus took to Freya, truly, but it stung. He was his Father, he should be there for his son regardlessly of how he felt about his actions. He continued the preparations of breakfast, he would try to be better.

Atreus walked down the stairs, still slightly sleepy from the night, pulling his sweater over his head. As he reached downstairs he walked to the open crates that the dogs slept in, all of three of them excited to see their favourite human, tails wagging. Fenrir did a big stretch when he walked out to greet Atreus and all four of them padded to the kitchen.

"You slept well?" The low grumble of Kratos came from the otherside of the kitchen, preparing the last ingredients for his breakfast.

"Yeah, I am sorry I slept in." He apologised as he sat down on his usual spot at the dinner table, slightly sulking. He knew his Father approved sleeping a little longer, but he had planned to go back to his own bed late at night. But this was the first night since many that he slept well.

"It is okay, Atreus," Kratos gave him his juice, leaning on the table he sighed as he looked at his son, "I am sorry about yesterday. I should have not raised my voice at you."

"It is okay Father, I understand why you were mad."

"Let me explain,” Kratos tried to collect his thoughts, “I am scared that if you get in a fight, it will end badly and you will get hurt beyond superficial wounds. I don't want you to get hurt. I know you care about your friends, and you should, but please don’t get hurt."

"I will try to not get into more fights, I promise."

"Hng," Kratos grumbled, making Atreus laugh, he knew his father wasn't very big on words, at least he was trying. 

"Good talk Father." Atreus stood up, holding his arms open inviting his father in for a hug.

"I love you." Atreus could hear his father’s voice break as he wrapped his arms around him. Atreus almost disappearing into his broad figure, Freya was right his hugs were a bit hard "I'm proud of you, son"

"Thank you, Father." Atreus' voice was muffled by Kratos' chest, “I love you too.”

Kratos looked over Atreus as he saw Freya standing in the door opening smiling softly at him as she dried her wet hair with a towel. The dogs eagerly greeted her good morning. Kratos looked at her, smiling softly as he sighed into his son's embrace. Maybe it wasn’t so bad that his son took to her. Her smile back made Kratos' feel giddy, something he hadn't felt in a long time, not since the death of his wife.

Chapter Text

Kratos regretted looking into what happened to Freya. He sat behind his laptop, while he did not want to intrude into what exactly had happened to her without her knowledge but he could not help his curiosity. The article in front of him made him sick to his stomach. The immense violence Odin had put on Freya, he could not imagine the terror she had to endure. Knowing it was a continuous fight made it even worse, the fear she must have had in her own home, he could not stomach. He noticed the sting in his finger, biting his cuticles was one of his bad habits he had been trying to break for years. Against his better judgement he decided to read further, until he truly couldn't. With a little too much force he shut the laptop. This was not something he should want to read, if he ever were to meet Odin it would be the end of him. They knew Freya was safe with him, for now. The knowledge that Odin would not stop at anything, would go to the ends of the earth to complete the mission he had created for himself, it was truly something that he feared.

Mimir had caught him up with what Sigrun had found in Freya's home. The fact that Odin was sending threats, without regard to if it would get him caught or not, made it seem like he was desperate. While Mimir was of the opinion of telling Freya this later, Sigrun had been very adamant in telling her friend and Kratos had agreed. This was about her own safety, her own life, were he in her position he would want to know. They were still deciding on the best way to bring the news. All of them thought Odin would be behind bars sooner than later, truth was if Odin wanted anything, he would get it. Kratos had not agreed with the hold off by the police to make it known to the public a dangerous man was on the loose. Scared it might cause Odin to go into hiding somewhere no one knew.

They thought it would be just a couple of days tops. That Odin would soon be back behind bars but as the days went by reality had started to set in. Freya entwined more and more into the household, their routines now a practiced dance they did together. It all fitted so seamlessly. Atreus had not minded it at all, no wonder he practically chose her for Kratos to date with his stunt. One circumstance leading to another. Both being forced into something they did not want. Although Kratos had gladly let her into his own home.

One of his dogs took him out of his thoughts, Speki whining before the door, scratching in an effort to open it. With a heavy sigh Kratos got up, the dogs weren't really allowed upstairs. As he had said many times, 'dogs didn't belong in human beds'. But since Freya moved in, he occasionally made an exception. Atreus had looked at him with a side-eye when he told him that the first time Freya had been here, the day she came to his after the first threat from Odin, she had curled up in his bed upstairs with all three dogs accompanying her. A thing Atreus thought was impossible for Kratos to do. He opened the door, Speki immediately ran up the stairs, as Kratos followed her. The other two dogs were out in the garden, enjoying the cooling air where Speki preferred staying close to the humans.

Freya sat on the ground, rage clearly shown in her body. The kohl-makeup she wore every day, streaked down her cheeks. Fists angry in the pillow in front of her, her face red. Speki immediately went to her, pushing her wet nose into her face. All Freya did was sniffling, not even acknowledging the dog or the man standing in the doorway. Kratos was unsure how he could even help her. For just a moment his body seems to move on its own, his feet taking him right in front of her. Freya looked away in shame, while she was grateful Kratos took her in, she was so over this, with the world and everyone. Done with the hold Odin still held over her life, while he was locked away in prison or rather supposed to be. Kratos crouched down in front of her, pushing away Speki telling her to stay, not to bother Freya. She was breathing fast, her eyes darting around the room, first squeezing then more tears came as she started to hyperventilate.

"Freya, calm your mind."

Kratos took her face in his hands, his thumb slowly caressing her cheek. Atreus would have panic attacks after his nightmares shortly after Faye had died. It took him some time to figure out how to help his son the best, but he figured it out in the end. He just hoped it would work for Freya too.

"Breathe with me." He over exaggerated his breathing, hoping she would follow.

It took some time but slowly and surely she got her breathing in control, squeezing her eyes shut as tears fell. His thumbs stroked away the tears. He didn't know why he did it, his body seemed to just move on instinct. It had been a long time since he was this close to someone other than Atreus. Even before Faye he would have never done it, but it all seems to come natural to him now. Freya took one deep breath before speaking.

"I am sorry, Kratos, I've been taking up so much of your time. You have been nothing but nice to me and all I,-"

"Freya, banish these thoughts," Kratos looked right into her brown eyes, "you have been wonderful, you are not a bother, Atreus and I are glad to have you here for as long as you'd like."

"It feels like he has cursed me to one place,"she sniffled," and I hate it." The last words came out vile.

He saw her lip quiver slightly, trying hard to calm her thoughts down. He so desperately wanted to pull her into him, telling her it's okay, it was a feeling that he only had felt with Faye or Atreus. The confusion soon was changed into a different feeling, protectiveness. At first he thought that feeling was because no one deserved to be hunted by their ex-husband who was supposed to be locked up in jail. But when he reflected on it, it was because of a different reason. In the short time she was in his life, he truly cared about her well-being. The scene of Atreus sitting on the chair in front of her when she was cleaning up the wound he had gotten at school came to his mind. Maybe it was more than just a friend. Kratos decided to expand on that thought at a later time. Still he pulled her into his shoulder as her body began to shake, his hand entangled in her hair as he softly stroked her scalped.

Freyr pushed his nose into his scarf, he hated the cold. While his twin liked it, he was the opposite, he despised it. Something, something seasonal depression. Getting into his car to go to his usual coffeeshop to pick up the weed for the week, he desperately needed it. Lunda and him had been discussing last months profits of the bar. Which were good, nothing special or out of the ordinary. But all that had been happening in his personal life had made his blood pressure rise. But first it was his turn to take care of Freya's plants. He had told her many times to stop this addiction of hers, but she wouldn't budge and now because of her crazy ass ex-husband he had to take care of them. He would get back at her for this for sure.

The drive to her house had been somewhat uneventful, besides his indecision of which song to play. With a sigh he opened the door, although Freyr hated the cold of autumn, the neighbourhood did look pretty in the orange hues of the leaves. It reminded him of the many days spent camping with their parents. Laying under the stars with his sister while his father pointed out all of the stars. Playing hide and seek with Freya in the forest. Climbing the rocks and boulders in the national park. Good memories that now seem so far away. It had been a while since he and Freya went outdoors to go climbing. Maybe after all of this was over they should go again under the guise of a sibling bonding event.

As Freyr turned after he locked his car his jaw dropped, the windows of Freya's house was smeared with eggs and dirt. The window on the side seemed broken, sharp shattered glass laying all around in the beautiful garden that she had grown over the years. He wasn't sure what to do, his whole body froze at the sight. How was he going to tell his sister? There was no doubt about who had done this, this looked like a personal attack. Not just some kids in the neighbourhood looking for some fun.

Was it smart to enter a house where just a psycho ex-husband who got out of jail had gone haywire because he experienced the consequences of his actions? Freyr's first thought was to call Lunda, if he ever needed to fix something it was her who would give him the best advice. Whether business related or not, she was his trusted confidant. With his trembling hand he got his phone out of the pocket of his jacket. Lunda's phonenumber was the emergency contact, he was so glad he had put it in. How on earth was he going to explain this to her, she knew the bare minimum, it was a sore topic for him to have a conversation about. Being the brother, seeing your sister in the intensive care unit, he would never forget the sheer anger he felt.

The phone rang three times before Lunda picked up. For a moment he forgot how to use his voice.

"Freyr, ya big doofus, what did you do know?" Lunda's usual cheery voice came through the speaker as his kind of comfort blanket.

"Lúnda,-" he couldn't even get the words out, his mouth dry.

"What's goin' on?" Of course she knew something was up. She always knew him better than he did himself.

"Freya, her house,-" He could feel the tears well up in the corner of his eyes, "he ruined it."

"Oh, Freyr," She took in a deep breath, "please tell me you ain't goin' into that house."

"I don't know what to do Lúnda. How can I ever explain this to Freya?"

"First, get someone to go with ya, someone scary. Second, you'll cross that bridge when it comes to it, she is safe now right? No need to get the worries."

"Yeah, she is safe, you're right as always Lúnda, thank you. I'll call Hildisvini."

"Atta boy! Freyr, please be careful, I know ya don't trust the police, but this man is insane."

"I will be careful."

Hildisvini ended up advising not to go in until there were at least more people. He knew what Odin could do, he helped nurse Freya back to health and had been at the forefront of taking care of the damage done. He also knew that Odin would do this for a reason, nothing he did was just because he liked it. This made Freyr fear that he was still around somehow, waiting in the wings to get her if she were to come out of hiding. With that they also decided for now, not to contact Kratos or Freya, to keep silent where she was. Freyr already had a hard time with limited texting between him and his sibling. She often complained he texted too much, she didn't have any social media but Freyr gladly sent a hundred and one videos every day, mostly of cats. Thus the silence was hard on him.

He ended up asking help from Sigrun, Byggvir and Hildisvini. All of them met him, Sigrun hugging him as she saw how devastated he was. They had discussed the note she had found a couple of days prior. Not wanting to give in to Odin, they did tell the police. That's when they heard the police were hesitant to put Odin on the news as a fugitive. Sigrun laughed in their face, made her anger known by telling them exactly of how Freya had ended up in this situation, partial to the blame of them, and why exactly Odin was behind bars. The damage he could do, not only to Freya but other people. They just nodded.

They all entered the house, one by one. Hildisvini slowly walked through the door. Calling out for anyone to come out of hiding. Luckily a lot of the valuable stuff had been taken by Freya, or was at Freyr's house. Only her many plants were still there. Most of them had been thrown off the shelves. Her TV was smashed. One of the dinner chairs was thrown out of the window in the back. On the parquet floor in all the earth were hastily written words.

You cannot go into hiding Frigg I will find you.

With a sigh Sigrun took out her phone, taking a picture as evidence. Hildisvini and Byggvir had cleared upstairs, no one was hiding in the house. That was a comfort to all of them, now they had to just deal with the mess. But how in the world was Freyr going to tell his sister her house was trashed.

"We need to make sure nothing is planted here, no listening devices no nothing." Sigrun's voice took Freyr out of his thoughts, "it looks recent and I think it is smart to call Gunnr."

"Yeah, let's clean up and make sure no one can just walk in." Hildisvini added as he picked up one of the many plants that laid on the floor.

"I'll ask if Beyla can get some wooden plates and maybe some security cameras."

"How did he even know where she lived, he was in jail before she moved in here?" Hildisvini pointed out.

"Well we know one thing about him is that he is resourceful, I am sure he called some of his old friends."

The day had been long, school had been hectic but now home at his apartment on the couch he had gotten from the second hand store, long slender fingers weaving through his hair Baldur was at peace. He slowly hummed to the vinyl he had just bought the weekend before with Nanna. The worst of the midterms were over, he made it to the last semester. Almost graduated, just needed to hold on until finals. He closed his eyes, maybe a nap before dinner. His phone vibrated, a message, probably some of his mates wanting to meet later. He could answer when he wanted. The soft stroking of his scalp pulled him close to sleep. Another vibration. Baldur sighed, groaning, leaning further into his girlfriend. Nanna chuckled, shaking her head. Typical Baldur, not to give up any of her love.

"It's not important," his voice muffled by her shirt, "I'll get it later."

The phone vibrated in quick succession.

"Maybe you should," Nanna kept scratching his scalp, making no effort to release Baldur, "it sounds important."

"Ugh."

Slowly, with a lot of protest, he rolled off of Nanna's lap. A lot of theatrics in picking up his phone, falling back into the couch. He looked for a second to his lockscreen, Nanna with one of the cats of the café nearby. He smiled as he unlocked his phone, looking for the text that had taken him out of his well needed comfort. The barrage of text messages were of his uncle Freyr. His uncle was a wild one, texting him infrequently but always asking what he was up to. This was unusual from him.

Freyr;

Hey kid, how is school? Did you do well in your midterms as always?

Anyhow as you probably guessed that is not the sole reason for my text

Are you alright?

The police still have not caught Odin (assholes)

And he visit your mother's house there was a lot of damage

Baldur pinched the bridge of his nose, he and Nanna had talked about this. They thought the police would catch his Father as fast as possible, with how much of a threat he was. He tried to focus on school but it did start to have an affect on him. His Father was not fond of him, maybe even scared with how he had beat him up after he went haywire on Freya. He still did not know what the fight exactly was about, why Odin abused Freya so heavily she had to go to the hospital. His mother never really talked about it, he understood why it was a sore topic. He was lucky his match had ended early and he had came home before it could have gotten worse. Sometimes at night, when he would get to sleep, he could still see his Mother's body all bruised up. The way her arm just didn't look right, the blood on her temple, the painful breaths she took. With Odin on the loose, everyone was on edge. He knew his mother was somewhere safe for the time being, but truly he wouldn't be surprised if Odin still found her, if he wanted it, he would get it. It had always worked for him, until Odin let his emotions get the best of him. Times like these made him miss his mother, while they hadn't the best relationship, Baldur blamed her for a longtime for the fucked up childhood he had because of his father. He knew somewhere deep down that all she did was to protect him. He had been working on forgiving her, she and Freyr were the only family he had. The fact that now that Odin was out made him more aware how quickly he could lose that if his father wanted it just bad enough.

"What is wrong, my love?" Nana's fingers ran over his back leaving goosebumps in their place.

"All that shit with my mom, kind of freaks me out."

"Who wouldn't be freaked out by that?"

"Yeah, you're right."

"Did she send you something?"

"No, it's my uncle." Baldur sighed leaning back into the couch, "apparently someone trashed my mom's house after she went into hiding, they think it's Odin."

"Wow, that is insane." Nanna put her e-reader down.

"Yeah, honestly, I feel so useless here. I even miss her infrequent typical mom texts which is something I never thought I would."

"Well, she is your mother and Odin is an ‘immense selfish manipulating asshole who deserves the worst’ as you put it not long ago." She leaned her head onto his shoulder, taking his hand in hers weaving her fingers through his. "can't you text her?"

"I,-" Baldur stopped himself, "Freyr told me that Freya is scared Odin somehow is tracking her on her phone. I understand it, but it feels like she is going back to the days when she was so paranoid because of my father."

"I don't think you can blame her, she is rightfully scared of him, my love. So are you, so is everyone. Especially if he trashed her house and kept threatening her."

"You are right as always." Baldur chuckled as he played with her fingers, weaving them in and out between his.

"Someone has to," Nanna smiled softly at him as she massaged his neck, "text Freyr that he has to relay a message to your mom, if that gives you a little bit of a piece of mind."

"I will thank you, my love."

Chapter Text

Atreus convinced the adults they had to celebrate Christmas. Even with the threat of Odin getting closer, begging Kratos to let him organize. With a sigh he agreed, this was not a fight he would win. After Faye Christmas had been dull. Either a nicer than normal meal with Mimir or just the two of them. He didn’t understand the need to celebrate. Of course he would get a present for Atreus, but the boy had never believed in Santa. Faye felt awful about lying and Atreus had been so scared of Santa that she decided to tell him the truth. The memory still fresh, Kratos remembered the relief on Atreus’ face, he had been so scared of Santa. Knowing it was some dude in a suit, he finally was able to sit on his lap as a young child without crying. Looking back it had been a funny sight. It surprised him that Atreus was so eager to celebrate now.

As a surprise he had gotten a Christmas tree on the way back from work. The look on his son’s face was worth the mess it would give alone. The dogs were eagerly intrigued by the sudden tree that had grown in the living room all of the sudden. Atreus had pulled in both adults to help decorate, not even slightly against their will. Kratos was glad he held onto the box of ornaments that had been collecting dust in the attic. Kratos’ occasional glance over to Freya, who was happily encouraging Atreus in his quest to deliver the best Christmas they had in years.

He knew Atreus had ulterior motives for his antics. His eagerness gave it away. He knew he had his heart in the right place, but it did not make it easier. At one time he hated the fact that his son kept things from him, but now, with many conversations with Mimir, he knew he had no ill intent. He knew young teenage boys could be a lot, but he had to let him go, not an easy task.

Although he suspected the motive now was to cheer everyone up, to help Freya forget the situation, even for just one day. He had been discussing with Sigurn and Freyr about having her friends and family over. When Kratos would celebrate with Faye, it often was just the three of them with the occasional visit of Mimir before he and Sigrun got together. The thought of having so many people come over frightened him a little bit.

A sudden silence took Kratos out of his thoughts, both Freya and Atreus looking directly at him. It was obvious he missed a question.

“Sorry, I didn’t get that.”

"Can you help with the topper? Since you are the tallest here." Freya smiled at him as Atreus looked up expectantly.

“Can we do it like we used to?” Atreus used his puppy eyes, “lift me up!”

“Hmn,” grumbled, “I can put it on without lifting.”

“You are no fun, Father.” Atreus feigned defeatment.

"Hmn," he looked at Freya, suddenly feeling mischievous, "you have been putting on the topper through the years, maybe it should be Freya's turn this time."

Atreus looked in shock at his Father, he rarely joked. Surely he noticed him messing around a little more than usual since Freya came, but this, this was new. Not that he mind, he would choose this Father over the military style parenting he had tried with him after his mother died.

"I can't reach that, Kratos, you are the tall one here."

"I will lift you." He said matter-of-factly. Atreus had to try really hard not to roll his eyes. Why was his Father like this?

"It is easier if you just put it on, I don't want you to strain any of your muscles."

Kratos slowly crept to Freya. Gauging if she was okay with this, the sly smile gave him the answer.

"Fine, just because you want to show off," she chuckled and shook her head, "men and their muscles."

Kratos hated to have to go behind Freya's back but he wanted to make sure this was the best Christmas they could get her. Freyr and him were talking over the phone numerous times. Discussing the best way to go about this, without leaving a trail for Odin. He hated that he still had such a hold over her life. Freyr had the idea to Celebrate at Mimir's house, if they wanted they could stay over the night. Mimir had the biggest place, the two rooms full of books could easily be turned into a temporary sleeping spot.

Mimir was happy to host a Christmas party. The Scot easily could fulfill the role as host. He promised to tone it down a little bit, but knowing his friend, he was glad he didn't have to host. The guest list was a little bit of an issue. They could only invite people who knew about the situation, who felt comfortable seeing Freya and potentially being dragged into the mess that was Odin's revenge.

He just now realised Freya hadn't left his house ever since moving in. It was then that he started to doubt if Atreus' idea was a good one. Freya's anxiety had been high ever since Freyr told her about the fact Odin went through her house, rightfully so. With every day that he was on the loose he wished he could just have a few minutes alone with her ex-husband.

Kratos let his fingers glide over the rim of his coffee cup. Mimir had gone off on a monologue about the current political state of the country, it was something that only half interested Kratos. Maybe the whole situation did more to him than he thought, he felt like it was all that he thought about.

"You know we are going to get him right, Kratos?" Mimir squeezed his wrist. "We are doing everything we can, Sigrun has been talking to Gunnr to put more pressure on the police."

"I know, I just," Kratos took a breath, "the hold he still has on her, she hasn't left the house. I know Atreus is excited to celebrate Christmas together, but I don't want to put more stress and fear onto her."

"We will make sure she'll get to us safely, okay?"

"It would be good for her to see her cats again."

Freya held the black dress Sigrun had picked out for her for Christmas in her hands contemplating. She had never really celebrated it willingly. It had been a stressful event. One that Odin had her put up, organize and host for his family. Without any help from anyone, the continued complaints still went through her head from time to time. Not a moment to sit down and enjoy a family getting together. Baldur often hid in his own room, especially when he became a teenager. Odin's family was not a nice one. She had never been invited with warm arms, only judging looks and cut conversations. The 'I am better than thou’s' her son called them. She never corrected him, much to Odin's disdain.

Now, it finally felt like something she somewhat looked forward to. When Atreus walked in, a bright big toothy smile, explaining his idea, she felt his enthusiasm. Despite the circumstances this could be good. A little motivation party. Every day Odin was out there Freya started to doubt if he would ever feel the consequences of his actions. The fact he took her comfort, her feeling of safety, her life just because of his vendetta. He had already taken everything from her, she had just gotten her life back for him to now just come in and fuck it up all over again. She could see the doubt in Atreus' eyes set in when she started to get anxious, the boy was far too perceptive, he already started to backtrack when he talked about going to the Christmas market and the ice skate rink. She quickly assured him it was okay, that she would love to celebrate Christmas with them. Atreus then admitted they hadn't celebrated Christmas since his mother's death. No wonder the boy was so eager.

But now, with the dress in her hands, about to go outside to go to Sigrun's and Mimir's. The anxiety rose up again. She hated herself for it, letting it consume her. The sight in the mirror acknowledged it, she could see the stress had a toll on her, she had felt so tired and weak over the last week. Far from the feeling she had weeks ago while climbing, running and hiking. Maybe it was the lack of direct sunlight. Her eyes tired, her skin greyish. She felt far from pretty now, she was glad that Sigrun pushed her on dressing up. Sitting at a dinner table during Christmas in her comfy old sweater she got while in vet school and her old ragged climbing pants probably wasn't the best. 

Once she put the black dress on she felt a little bit better. She wasn't the type of person to go over the top to get dolled up, but at least a little bit of makeup, she could do. It would make her feel like she was a little bit more presentable. Just as she was done she heard Kratos shout down at the stairs asking if she was ready. Well here goes nothing, she had been dreading the car ride, the voices in her mind telling her it was not safe persisted.

She sighed as she closed the door behind her with her jacket in one hand as she walked down the stairs. Her eyes met Kratos' as he just stared at her, just as her he had dressed up too. A white button down with black pantaloons, nothing too fancy, just fancy enough.

"You look absolutely beautiful."

Freya suddenly felt shy, looking down evading his eyes.

"Thank you, I just wished it was under different circumstances."

Kratos hummed as he extended his hand.

"Let's go before Atreus complains too much."

Freya looked at her brother, fully engulfed in his shenanigans with Atreus. Of course those two would get together great, Atreus sometimes reminded her of the mischief her twin brother had when they were kids. It gave some light to the already heavy evening. The tall sight of Sigrun filled her peripheral as her friend sat down.

"Hello, my love," Sigrun's hug felt like a relief to Freya, "how are you doing?"

"I'm okay, thank you." They were quickly interrupted by a loud meowing. The black Norwegian Forest cat Freya had missed so dearly made its appearance.  She immediately scooped the culprit up, Bygul happily purring in her arms.

"You are going to get cat hair all over your dress."

"You know I don't care about that." Freya said as she kissed Bygul in between her ears, "I have missed you so much Kjære."

"Mimir would be glad if you take them back," Sigrun joked, "he has been complaining about them taking my love away."

"It is a shame you are such a bully to dogs, Bygul," Freya scratched him under his chin, "I would take you in a heartbeat."

"I am sure this will be all over soon."

Freya hummed, everyone thought it would maybe take days. The doubt that this would pass grew bigger each day.

"They really are two peas in a pod." SIgrun changed the subject, and noticed the hurt. Both women are looking at Atreus beating the shit out of Freyr with Mario Kart. Freyr never could stand losing even when they were kids. "Mimir was entirely too excited to organize this."

"He is a good host, I give you that."

The women didn't notice the two men watching them from across the room. Their hushed conversation on them, a much needed conversation on them. Mimir, self acclaimed smartest man alive, had been wanting to discuss with Kratos for days. The low contact might have been more taxing for him than it was for the Greek.

"It would be best to go the legal route, at least with the police," Mimir explained, "he is not only a danger to Freya but everyone else, the longer he is on the loose the more desperate he will get. But it is the long route too."

Kratos hummed in agreement.

"There is the thing, if he were to attack," Mimir stated carefully, "how we would handle that."

"If he were to hurt anyone, or come into the house. I will take it into my own hands."

Chapter Text

A hot cup of tea between her hands calmed the thoughts in Sigrun's head somewhat, Bygul came by her, shoving her head roughly against Sigruns's hand demanding attention. This truly was a mess, way bigger than anyone could have ever imagined. When she learned Odin had gotten out of jail she just wished she could go out and find him. She wished to put a bullet through that man's head. The mental images of Freya laying in the hospital bed, tubes everywhere plagued her at night. She thought she had gotten over them, she wasn't someone who was quickly grossed out by anything. But seeing her friend, looking so fragile, so broken there in the hospital. It fueled her anger she had for Odin. She and Baldur had taken shifts to stay with Freya until she would wake up. None of them wanted her to be alone, not after all she had been through.

Every single day that Freya spent in the hospital were the longest days of her life. It felt like she had lost control over everything. While she knew some of what was going on behind closed doors, and even in the open. She never dared to intervene. The numerous times she told her best friend and confidant to leave the asshole Freya always told her she didn't want Baldur growing up in a broken household, but what good was an abused home, unfortunately it quickly turned into if I leave he will kill me conversation. It only fueled her passionate hate more. Her hate got stronger every passing minute.

 The only way she felt like she could somewhat control the situation was making sure Odin would not go unpunished, that they would make the rest of his life a living hell. Her network was fast, she made sure Freya had access to the best of the best and thus she asked Gunnr. One of the best lawyers she could think of, who gladly would take this case pro-bono. To strip Odin of everything he had.

The broad hand that touched her shoulder took her out of her doom thoughts. Nuzzling into it, it gave her the comfort she needed, one he would gladly provide these days.

"You are thinking too much," he leaned down to kiss her temple, "it is no good for that brain of yours."

"I just can't seem to wrap my head around the incompetence of the police, it is starting to feel like they are willingly doing this. It is insane that she needed to go to a safe house while he just spits threats and ruins her life. I am scared of when he will find out where she is."

"She is safe with Kratos, my love." He sat down across the table, taking both her hands in his as he ran his thumbs along her knuckles, "We will do everything in our power to keep her safe."

"I am thinking of involving Gunnr again, at least to put some fire underneath the feet of law enforcement."

Mimir looked outside seemingly in thought.

"Kratos and I talked during Christmas," he focuses his attention to her, "he told me nothing would hold him back if Odin ever finds out where she is."

"You mean,-" Sigrun didn't dare to finish her sentence. With a sigh Mimir acknowledged what she thought. "That somehow doesn't surprise me."

"It has been quiet the last two weeks since Christmas."

"The silence before the storm." Sigrun finishes the thought Mimir had. He hummed in agreement.

"Besides, I am glad when these two trouble makers return to their home. I hate the sneezing already."

"Just as I started to think you would finally warm up to adopting a cat."

"Freya?" The voice of Atreus took her out of her concentration from the boring spreadsheet in front of her. She hated that she could not work in the field, office work was so monotone. Well at least she would be caught up with the administration part of her work, she was starting to run out of it.

"Atreus?" She said in the same tonation as he did. Earning a small smile from the seemingly nervous teenager in front of her.

"Uhm," he nervously cracked his knuckles, "is it okay if Angrboda comes over?"

Freya smiled back, his nervousness was very endearing, it reminded her of when Baldur was his age. "I don't think I have any authority on that, Atreus, sorry."

"Okay," he looked around reluctantly, as if to ask more but not sure if he wanted to, "do you think,-" he stopped himself, rethinking his question. "nevermind."

"It's okay, you can ask me," Freya chuckled, "I don't know if I have the answer but you can always ask."

"Uhm, well," he hesitated, "please don't tell father okay, but I think I like Angrboda, like, like like and I don't know what to do and you are a woman and she is and well maybe you can help me figuring out what to do for her for Valentine, you know what nevermind I shouldn't have asked anyway, sorry." Freya thought Atreus would run out of breath by the end of the sentence. Before he could leave, she interrupted him.

"I certainly can point you in the right direction," she pointed to the chair across her. Her smile immediately disarmed him of his anxiety. "Do you know her interests or hobbies, these are often good places to start with."

"Well she likes to draw," he took the chair from under the table, "she likes animals."

"Hmm," Freya hummed, "we can work with that."

"I just can't seem to come up with something."

"Do you want to do something together or just soley for her?"

"It would be fun if we did something together, I guess."

"What about," Freya looked at him mischievous, "a picnic and you show off the guitar skills you have been working on?"

"But I am not good yet!" Atreus crossed his arms.

"It is the thought that counts, isn't it?"

Flames licked on the side of Freyr's arms, all he could think about was getting to Lúnda. The pain was just an afterthought. Something on the back of his mind. The flames were all over the room, the bar was on fire. The thick overwhelming smoke made it so hard to breathe. He put his arm before his mouth, protecting his face from the heat, he wished he wore his buff inside. Calling out for Lunda he could barely focus, all he could hear was the sound of the flames around him. He heard coughing somewhere far away, his body moved on autopilot.

In the background he heard the big beam fall, he really need to get out but where the fuck was Lúnda? Sticking low to the ground he crawled to the space he knew like the back of his hand. He could barely see through the thick smoke. All of the sudden he heard shouting coming from behind the bar, thank the Norns, he recognized that voice anywhere. As his body took over he started to move, within steps he was beside his friend, she looked okay only shaken by the current events.

"Can you get up?" Freyr asked, putting his arm under her shoulder.

"Yeah, just," she slowly turned around to lean on her knees.

"Come here, I'll help you okay?" With a fluid movement he got her up, supporting her weight. The flames were loud and disorienting, but the path to the doorway looked as clear as it could be.

Before Freyr even took a step Lúnda stopped him. "Freyr your arms," she held and iron grip on his wrist.

"It's okay, a thing for later, let's get out first yeah."

Chapter Text

"I didn't mean to fall!" A young Freyr sniffled, wiping away his tears with his dirty hand, "I thought the branch was strong enough!" 

The hiccups kept coming as he desperately tried to put on a brave face. He did not want to fall, and this was so embarrassing. His sister had told him not to climb, but he wanted to look at the view! He had done this before and it went fine then. He only got so far when he fell down, the branch he stood on coming along.

"I told you not to go higher," Freya pushed the little braids out of her face with her dirty hands as she ran to her brother, "do you want me to get Father?" She sat down next to him where her brother fell. Checking him over, after all she was responsible for him. If he got hurt she had to help, her father told her so. Freyr got them into all types of mischief and Freya got them out of all of them.

"No, no, no! Please don't get him!" Freyr whipped his head around, in his usual animated way, his braids hitting him in the face. "He will only get mad!"

"But you are hurt, Freyr, you might have broken something."

"You're here now, that helps and besides I am fine!"  Freyr tried with all his might not to let the tears fall, father would only make it worse.

"Okay, if you say so, you know," the hesitation in her voice was obvious, "besides I would totally go higher than you,-" the mischievous smile immediately disarmed Freyr.

"No way!" Freyr interrupted, his eyes widened.

"And stick the landing." She giggled as Freyr hit her shoulder. The smile on his face made her feel a little bit more at ease.

"You know, maybe I should have done a flip, maybe then I would have stuck the landing," the tooth missing in Freyr's smile, "I've done it before!"

"Pfft, now you are getting cheeky," she picked up a stick to draw figures in the earth, "I would always help you when you're hurt, always" Freya leaned into his shoulder, the adrenaline wearing off now, "even if you don't want Father to know."

"I know," Freyr threw his arm around his twin sister, "and I would do the same for you."

Freyr felt the white pain shoot up his arms, disoriented where he was, the events of last night slowly coming back to him. The hot bright flames, the sirens, Lúnda. It took him an immense strength to pry his eyes open from the heavy sleep. A heavy sigh left his lips as he took in the room he was in. The constant noise of beeps and pumps gave it away in an instant. Next to him he saw the wild hair style that belonged to his sister, someone had draped a blanket over her as she sat next to the bed, head on the mattress in a deep and seemingly uncomfortable slumber. He slowly moved his hand to her face, stroking the stray hair away from her temple. The sudden touch woke her up in an instant, almost as if she flinched awake.

"Hey," his voice hoarse, "that doesn't look comfortable at all."

"Freyr," she shot up, only to retract her hand when he flinched, "are you okay? Do you want me to call the nurse?" Immediately concerned about him.

"It's fine, you're here now although I wouldn't mind a cuddle."

Hesitantly Freya got up, Freyr trying to shuffle to make room, forcing his face to relax not to let Freya know of the pain he was in. She would only fuss about him and he hated that. As her head hit the pillow Freyr looked at her.

"What's going on in that tumultuous head of yours?" Of course he knew exactly what was going on with her, she had hated it so much when she was younger. Maybe it was some twin thing.

"This is no coincidence, Freyr."

"Can we for once not talk about the big elephant in the room and just," Freyr sighed, "be?"

She looked up to him.

"You asked, you get an answer."

"Fair."

Freya just hummed.

She couldn't see the sly smile Freyr had when he asked his next question, but she knew it for sure it was there.

"How is Kratos." She looked up at him, just to see his eyebrows wiggle.

"You have a whole lot of energy for someone who just almost burned to death."

"Ouch."

"Sorry, that was rude," she sighed, "I am just so tired of it all."

"No I understand," Freyr tried to scoot closer to her, "but you haven't answered my question."

"I want to punch you so bad right now, I can't believe this is where your priorities lie."

Kratos sighed as he looked over to the passenger seat. With one hand on the steering wheel he hit the top of it in anger. It seemed like the barrage of threats never ended. Odin would never give up unless he reached his end goal. He would only get more desperate, Kratos knew his gut feeling he had to have some hand in the fact Freyr's bar went up in flames just before opening. Who else would?

Once again he looked over to the passenger seat, Freya slept with her head against the window, something he doubted was comfortable. He had picked her up at the hospital after a, likely sarcastic text from her brother that she kept falling asleep and sleeping in a chair wasn't comfortable according to him. 

As he drove upon the driveway of his house he took a moment to take her in. It felt to him it was the first time he saw her relaxed, he sighed as he pinched the bridge of his nose. He opened the door and closed it as silently as he could, he didn't want to wake her up. She could use all the rest she could get. He opened the door on her side, quickly holding her shoulder so as to not let her fall, snaking his arm around her back. His other one under her knees and lifted her up in one smooth motion. She only stirred slightly, leaning her head more into his neck. 

He was grateful that she didn't wake up as he fumbled with the keys to open the front door. Fenrir laid in the hallway and looked up at him as if to say, ‘you are home late’ . He swore that if that dog could talk he had stories to tell. He gently laid her down on the couch with care, stroking one of the stray hairs behind her ear. He picked up the blanket out of the basket next to the couch and draped it around her, pulling it up to her shoulder. Without trying to wake her he sat down next to her, he didn't know what to do. How to handle this situation now that it escalated. His conversation with Mimir made him aware of something that he knew deep down inside wasn't the path he wanted to go on. But he had to, he had to deal with how much of a threat Odin was to his family.

The gun in the safe was tempting, a gun he hadn't used for a long time. A long time for a reason. He knew as soon as he took it out, the implications of it. The idea's in his head on how to deal with Odin were running out, as long as that man was on the loose, they needed to be able to protect themselves, to protect Freya. He swore to never hurt another being again, to never go down that rabbit hole again. But was it the same when you try to protect your own? Kratos could feel a headache form in the back of his head. He looked over at Freya again, still in deep slumber. The couch was no way to sleep, he decided.

He carried her up the stairs, and opened the guest room with one hand. As he laid her down gently she stirred awake.

"Kratos?"

"Go back to sleep Freya," he pulled up the blanket to her shoulders.

"Stay?" she had a death grip on his arm, he doubted he could easily shake her loose. He sighed, overthinking it as he always does, "please?"

"Okay." She disarmed him so easily, it was almost scary to him. He carefully moved over her to lay behind her. She never let go of his arm and as his head hit the pillow she pulled him closer to her. "Thank you."

"Odin B. was convicted of attempted murder, severe domestic abuse, embezzlement,  among other convictions and was sentenced to 25 years. He was transported from the prison to an unknown location 3 weeks ago now and has been on the run ever since. Why this information hadn't been disclosed sooner remains a mystery. A spokesperson for the victim told us it was not the first time the police had been incompetent." The news anchor read from the autocue as the tv cut to a pre-recorded interview with Gunnr. Her hair yet black hair that was braided, draped down on her grey blazer, her green eyes showed signs of anger and disbelieve, her jaw tense. She stood in front of the court house, looking directly at the journalist.

"The police had been incompetent in their case before, so no, it does not surprise me that it happened again."

"Tell them Gunnr!" The loud voice of Mimir cut through.

"Not only did they not inform my client of the escape from supervised parole, they withheld that information for over 4 days." Gunnr looked straight at the camera to show her disdain, likely to the police.

"Can you tell us a little bit about why Odin B. was in prison?"

"I won't go into detail for various reasons, the only thing I will say on that matter is that my client ended up in the ICU for a week."

"Will you be taking action against the police?"

"We have already looked into how the case of my client has been handled, I have strong suspicions but cannot go into further detail now."

"Do you think Odin B. is a danger to the public?"

"In my opinion, he very much is a danger to the public, but more so to my client and I know from previous experience with him that he would not let anything stand in his way from his goals."

"Thank you,-"

"I hope this at least will get the attention needed," Mimir pointed the remote at the TV and turned it off, "but I doubt it will move the police in action."

"They aren't even talking about Freyr's bar." Kratos sat down on the couch, defeated.

"Yeah, do tae know it was him?" Mimir sat down beside him, taking the coffee from the salontable in front of him.”They told Freyr they hadn’t found any evidence.”

"Who else would it be?" Kratos looked at the door that led to the stairs in the hallway. Freya was still asleep well after her normal wake up time. His concern rose every hour. She must have known it was no coincidence.

"Kratos?" Mimir paused, "I know we talked about this but, please don't go into somethin' yae can't back out of."

"How am I supposed to deal with it elsewise?"

"Let Sigrun and Gunnr handle it," Mimir followed Kratos' eyesight, "you should take care of her first."

"That would be getting rid of the 'Odin problem' Mimir and you know it."

"If it comes to it, if it is really that bad we make sure there are extra people here,-"

"It is already that bad Mimir," Kratos growled, "it has been that bad ever since that man got out. The moment the police decided it was not worth their attention. She almost died and now he put Freyr in the hospital too. Don't you think that's bad enough?"

"I am sorry, you are right." Mimir sighed, "I never thought he would do something like this."

"What do you mean?"

"I used to work for him."

"You cannot hide Freya, if I can't get to you I'll make sure to make your life a living hell" Bright bold red letters were written on the side of the wall of Freyr's bar, licked by flames as the building burned down. A police officer standing in front of it with his hands crossed, bright blonde hair in a small ponytail. A smile on his face as he watched the flames dance around the words, the flames reflected in his purple pupils. Over the walkie-talkie someone called his callsign, he raised it up, listening to it to answer. "No, no evidence here, I swept the place, probably electrical faults." He shook his head as he muttered, you done it again father.